Framed
by Hotchsbabewriter
Summary: Emily and Aaron are engaged and soon to be married; unfortunately Beth Clemons sets her eyes on Aaron and she is willing to do anything it takes to get what she wants. So she sets Emily up to make it look like she has cheated on Aaron, and he breaks up with her. Soon Emily finds out she is pregnant. Can she convince Aaron that she never cheated on him and her baby is his?
1. Chapter 1

FRAMED

Chapter One: The Perfect Couple

A/N:

 _ **Hello everyone. I have decided to start a new story called "Framed", and I got inspired to do this because in all of my other stories I always made Aaron "seem" to be the bad guy. So, in this story, I decided to give it a huge turn around and make Emily "seem" to be the bad guy of this story. This story will be a lot different from the usual plot of Criminal Minds, and I have made a few changes...Beth Clemons is one of the agents of the BAU, and she has a seriously huge crush on Aaron; Clyde Easter also works for the BAU, but on a different floor and as always, he is one of Emily's best friends that will be there for her whenever she needs him.**_

 _ **Now, let's get to the plot: as I mentioned, Beth has a huge crush on Aaron, and she is willing to do anything it takes to get him. So, she plots an evil plan to set Emily up and makes it look like Emily has cheated on Aaron while they are engaged. Aaron falls into the game, believing Beth and breaks up with Emily. A couple of months later, Emily discovers she is pregnant, and Aaron refuses to believe the child is his and is convinced the father is her lover. The question is: can Emily really prove she never cheated on him and that Aaron is the father of her baby, or will she have to raise her child alone for the rest of her life**_?

 _ **And let the fireworks begin!**_

Chapter 1: The Perfect Couple.

Emily walked out of the bar hand-in-hand with her fiancée...she was a little tipsy, but it was a good-feeling tipsy...a feeling she really needed since they had worked almost an entire month without a break. Normally, the team didn't work that many days without a break, but for the past month, there had been no other teams available to take cases, so Aaron had been forced to work his team to the limit. Thankfully, that long, mindboggling period was over, and they had the next three days off. They would be on standby after they returned and probably work on paperwork and consultations from Quantico, but for now, they would worry about spending their three days of rest, forgetting that the BAU even existed. They had gone out to have a few drinks to unwind at Daugherty's Tavern, one of their favorite bars, because they made the best hamburgers Aaron had ever tried and also had cocktails, and now he was ready to spend the rest of his night with the woman that held his heart.

They approached the car and before he opened the door for her he wrapped his arms around Emily's waist and pulled her for a kiss. Emily giggled tipsily and returned the kiss, wrapping her arms around the man besides her, they stood there kissing for a while until oxygen became necessary.

"Mmmm, I love the way you look tonight, and the way you taste, and everything about you...I just love you so much." He said, holding her tightly to him and leaning his forehead against hers.

"I love you, too, silly...more than you'll be able to understand." They kissed for a while longer and finally he opened the door for her and helped her inside the car, He got into the driver's seat and drove away. He was so ready to have an amazing evening with his fiancée and was very anxious about it.

He and Emily had been dating officially for two years, but they had only been engaged for the last four months. He had never in his life been so happy with anyone, Emily was simply the most amazing woman he had ever met. Their relationship really started after Haley's death when Emily became an emotional sounding board for him. He was not in love with Haley when Foyet killed her, but it still had been difficult for him and Jack. Emily was the reason they overcame the tragedy and gave them a new reason to live. They were already on very good terms and were even good friends before Foyet's attack, but after that, their friendship became stronger and stronger. Emily pulled Aaron out of the hole he was in. She helped him and his son find their way to get their life back on a firm footing again, and before he knew it, he realized he was in love with her. Somehow, one thing led to another and he kissed her one night after a movie night with Jack and to his surprise she reciprocated the kiss. They started a relationship after that, and then he realized she was the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. She loved his son as if he was her own, and she made him the happiest man on earth. Finally, he got the guts to propose to her on her birthday, and she accepted immediately. Now, he couldn't wait to make her Mrs. Hotchner and spend the rest of his life with her.

"So, what do you think about Spencer's girlfriend?" Aaron asked as he drove home with her.

"Mmmm, she's okay, I guess." Emily answered, looking at him. Tonight, they had met Spencer's new girlfriend, and by the look on her face, he was sure Emily had not liked the girl...not even a little bit.

"You hate her, don't you?" He said, eyeing his fiancée.

"I never said that, I just think we need to get to know her better, and besides, it's not me who has to liker her, it's Spencer." Emily responded.

"I know, but you know how important our opinion is to Spencer." Aaron pointed out.

"I know, I don't have anything against her, I just really want to get to know her better." He said, leaning against the passenger seat.

"Beth seems to like her a lot." He said, taking the exit on Linder Road.

"Of course she did." Emily said, rolling her eyes.

"That's right, I forgot you hate Beth." Aaron teased, knowing his fiancée and the agent didn't get along.

"I don't hate her, I just...I don't like fake people, and I just..." Emily stopped her sentence.

"You just what?" Her fiancée inquired.

"I just hate the way she looks at you, and she flirts with everyone in the office including you, it's just annoying." Emily said, shaking her head.

She truly didn't like the agent, and although she had not really admitted that to her fiancée, she just simply couldn't stand her. Beth was reckless and careless on the job, and she often did things that were against protocol and BAU rules. On top of that, Beth was the type of woman that threw herself at every man she could, including her fiancée, and that was one of the things that bothered Emily the most. Everyone on the team knew about their relationship and the fact that they were engaged. However, it didn't seem to matter to Beth, she still acted as if he were a single man, flirting with him and insinuating herself to him, and as much diplomacy as Emily had, she wanted to kick the bitch's ass.

"She doesn't flirt with me." Aaron said, killing the engine as they parked outside his place. They were basically living together, but Emily still kept her apartment just in case.

"Right." Emily said, rolling her eyes and looking away from her fiancée.

"Can you try to get along with her for my sake, please baby?" He asked sweetly.

"Why are you defending her?" Emily inquired angrily...maybe that third shot of Jose Cuervo had not been such a good idea.

I'm not defending her, I just want you two to get along." Aaron said calmly...he knew his fiancée very well, and he knew he had to be very careful with his words when she was upset.

Emily just shook her head and opened the door, stepping out of the car before he could say anything else. She started walking toward his apartment door. Aaron sighed and rolled his eyes; he didn't want to piss her off, and it didn't really help that they were both a bit intoxicated. He got out of the car and went after her; she was already inside the apartment since she had a spare key. He quickly went inside after his fiancé, finding her in the room taking off her boots and attempting to change into something more comfortable. She stood up from the bed and was about to walk out of the room when he stopped her by pulling her into his arms.

"You're being silly, you know that." He said, holding her tightly to him, while Emily glared at him.

"Em, who cares if she flirts with every man in the office?"

I don't care if she flirts with every man in the office, hell, I don't even care if she sleeps with every man in town, but I do care about the way she flirts with you." She said, looking at him seriously.

"She can flirt all she wants to with me, but you know I will never lead her on, or encourage her in any way. I'm engaged to the most beautiful and amazing woman on this earth. No matter how many women you put in front of me, I only have eyes for you, sweetheart." He said, kissing her lips softly. Emily still gave him a frown, and he deepened the kiss.

"Come on, baby, don't let some nonsense ruin our night, you are everything to me...no matter what...and I really want to have a nice evening with my beautiful fiancée."

"Okay, you're right, I'm sorry, I don't even know why I'm letting her get to me." She responded, kissing her boyfriend back.

"Let's just forget about it, okay, baby." Aaron said, pulling her to him for another kiss.

Emily nodded, kissing him back, and they undressed each other and made passionate love several times. Awhile later, Emily laid in bed in his arms as he peacefully slept. She smiled, grasping the arm he had around her midsection. She loved Aaron more than anything she could think of in this world...he and Jack were her entire life. They were basically the perfect couple, she had never been happier in her life, and soon they would be married and her fairy tale would come true. She really hoped that was the case and nothing would get in the way of their happiness, and by nothing she meant a certain Beth Clemons. She tried to push the negative feelings away as she fell sleep in her fiancée's arms.


	2. Chapter 2

Framed

Chapter 2

Emily stepped outside the police building abruptly; she was very tired and ready to kill the first person that stepped in her way. Of course, they had been in Orange County for about a week now, and the case was not yet resolved. They had been searching for an unsub who was targeting successful businessmen; they had already found six different bodies and yet had found no clues as to where the unsub could be, let alone who he was. All the evidence pointed to a female attacker, but those were just assumptions and none of their leads was getting them anywhere. On top of that, Emily had been watching Beth throwing herself at the Unit Chief openly in front of everyone, not that Beth really had any decency anyway. But she usually flirted with him innocently once in a while, and what she was doing now was another, very different thing entirely. This time, she was openly and blatantly throwing herself at her current boss/fiancé. Emily had tried really hard to ignore Beth's actions because they didn't want to get in trouble, or jeopardize the case, but sometimes it was just too much, and Emily was ready to jump on the bitch any minute.

 _Earlier that day…_

 _The team was reviewing the files for the last body they had found, Cray Carter, a 35-year-old successful banker with a fortune in the bank. He had been found dead outside his beach house in Newport Beach; he had been strangled, and the unsub left a message carved on his chest…"Whore". They still had no clue who the unsub was, but they were certain the deaths were revenge murders, and they were sure the unsub, whoever he or she was, it was just getting started._

" _Correct me if I'm wrong, but what makes a successful man invite someone to his house without knowing who that person is, especially a woman." JJ pointed, looking at the homicide pictures._

" _We're not sure it's a woman yet, we're just assuming." Morgan said, looking at JJ with questioning eyes._

" _Of course, it's a woman! There is only one thing that's going to make a man leave a bar in the middle of the night." Emily said._

" _A woman." Aaron finished for her._

" _So, we're looking for a woman who'll approach a man, comfortable being the aggressor right? So, I'm guessing she had to be quite attractive in order to lure them away?" Dave pointed out._

" _Well, you've got to admit these men are making it pretty easy. I wouldn't follow a stranger anywhere, no matter how wasted I was?" Reid stepped in._

" _Yeah, but you are a genius, boy, most of these men are easy targets. It really baffles me to see how they can lose their life over a woman." Emily said, smirking._

" _That really depends on the woman…if she knows how to attract them, sooner or later, they will fall no matter how hard they try to avoid it." Beth said, looking at Aaron with a lustful voice and a wicked smile. Aaron, of course, ignored her, but he didn't fail to notice the glare Emily was sending her way._

" _Okay, I think we should split and go back to the crime scenes, there must be something we are missing." Aaron said, standing up from the table._

" _Rossi and Prentiss, please go back to the Carter's house and check everything again. I want to know everything he did, everyone he talked to, all of it."_

" _JJ and Reid, I need you to go over the victimology again…there has to be a pattern we're missing here."_

" _Morgan, you and Agent Clemons go back to the first crime scene, there was something about that particular scene that keeps bugging me; I think we can find something there if we just keep looking…we'll meet everyone back here in one hour."_

" _Are you going by yourself, Aaron? I'm not sure that's a smart move, after all, she's targeting handsome successful men. I really don't think you should be alone, especially now." Beth said evilly, knowing she was getting under Emily's skin._

" _Thanks for your concern, but I'll be fine." Aaron said dismissively, picking up the files from the round table_

" _If you need anything at all, don't hesitate to call me." Beth added, licking her lips and walking away giving Emily an evil smile. Aaron acted as if nothing had happened and went to his SUV. Emily, however, angrily walked outside the police station._

"Don't let her get to you, Bella, you know she's doing it on purpose." Dave pointed out as they walked towards the SUV

"I swear to God, Dave, if Aaron doesn't say something to her soon, I'll kick her fucking ass." Emily hissed, getting inside the car and slamming the door shut.

"You know he can't say anything to her, just don't let her get to you, you know better than that."

"I swear, Dave, if Aaron does something." Emily started angrily.

"Sweetie, relax, Aaron is crazy about you, we all see it, he isn't going to jeopardize the best thing that has ever happened to him for some random easy, piece of meat." Dave reasoned.

Emily just shook her head because she was so angry that she wanted to kill Beth and knowing she couldn't do it because it would jeopardize her job as well as Aaron's. She knew she needed to calm down for her own sake and her job's good, and more importantly, for Aaron's good. Beth continued to keep acting the same way for the rest of the case, and while it was truly bothering her, Emily attempted not to show it. Emily knew she needed to be the mature one and ignore Beth's stupid commentary. After all, Dave was right about something…it was her who was with Aaron, and that was the most important thing.

A few nights later, they managed to apprehend the unsub, and as they had thought, it was, indeed, a woman, and they had caught her before she had managed to kill someone else. Their job was now complete, so Aaron decided to give his team the remainder of the night off, so they could enjoy themselves. The team decided to go to a bar across the street from the hotel. They were off duty, and a few drinks would make them forget about this horrible case.

They were having fun and drinking by the bar area…everyone was there, including Aaron who had noticed how his fiancé had been ignoring him for the past few days. He knew very well why she was upset, so he decided he would find a way to make things up to her. Very discreetly, he walked up to her and whispered something in her ear. At first, she just glared at him, but then he whispered something else in her ear and she nodded and followed him outside the bar. Beth didn't fail to notice the couple leaving, and she followed after them when no one was watching.

"Okay, so what do you want to talk about?" Emily asked a little rudely.

"Are you seriously mad at me? I didn't do anything, Em." Aaron defended.

"No, you didn't, you just let her throw herself at you in front of everyone like it didn't matter to you." Emily said in a hurt voice.

"Baby, come on, what was I supposed to say…we promised we would not let her get between us." Aaron reasoned. Emily, however, just shook her head angrily. Aaron smiled at her face and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close to him.

"Please don't be mad at me, I didn't do anything, and please don't let her get to you. I've already told you that you are the only woman I'll ever have eyes for, no matter what." He smiled gently. His fiancé looked away, still hurt. He smiled lightly again, one of the many things he loved about her was her stubbornness.

"You know, we could be doing some other stuff rather than fighting in the middle of the street." He teased.

"Oh yeah, like what?" Emily asked, still with a hurtful voice.

"Well, since we are officially off duty, I took the liberty of getting us a bigger suite…on the top floor." He said, leaning down to kiss her neck and earlobe, whispering gently into her ear. Emily smiled and shivered at the contact of his lips on her skin.

"I thought we were going to act professionally at work." She couldn't help teasing her fiancé.

"Technically, we're not at work anymore, so I'm free to do whatever I please with you." He said huskily, leaning down to kiss her neck again. Emily smiled and finally allowed him to pull her in for a kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck. They stood there kissing for a while, unaware of the fact that Beth was watching them from the bushes.

"So, may I take you to my room, and make it up to you?" He asked, holding her close.

"Mmmm, and how are you exactly planning on doing that?" She teased.

He leaned down again, whispering into her ear something that made her blush and burst into laugher; she nodded and kissed his lips again. Both agents walked back to the hotel, hand-in-hand, as Beth watched with evil eyes. No matter what she had to do, she was going to get him, that she swore.


	3. Chapter 3

Framed

Chapter 3: Risky Business Meeting

It had a been a very long day of boring bureaucratic meetings and hours of seating in the same room with Chief Strauss, something that Unit Chief Aaron Hotchner hated more than anything. Over the years, they had managed to get along and, at least, tolerate each other, but it was clear that she still wanted him out of the BAU, and sometimes those meetings could be quite unbearable. By the time the last meeting was over, Hotch was happy to head out for lunch, even if it was just for an hour or so. He looked quickly around he bullpen and noticed that most of his team had also gone to lunch; he sighed, annoyed, he really wanted to get out early enough to catch lunch with his girlfriend, but, he would find a way to make it up to her that evening.

He quickly walked into his office and grabbed his coat and briefcase heading out. He had time to grab a bite while checking some files, and then it was back to the BAU for more meetings. But hopefully, that evening, he would be able to go home and have an amazing night with his girlfriend. He drove to his favorite coffee shop and after ordering a sandwich and coffee, he sat down at a table by the window and opened up his laptop to work on some paperwork. He typed for a few minutes and answered a few emails, until the waitress delivered his sandwich and coffee, then he closed his laptop and pulled his phone out making a phone call.

"Prentiss" His girlfriend answered distractedly.

"Hey, pretty lady, why so formal?" He smiled, hearing her voice.

"Oh hey, I didn't realize you were calling my personal phone, I'm sorry, honey." She smiled widely on the phone even though he couldn't see her face.

"I'm sorry I wasn't able to meet you for lunch...I just...the meeting went on for so long..."

"Its okay, Aaron, you don't have to give me explanations, I work there, too, I know the requirements."

"I know…still, I'll make it up to you tonight. I'll take you out to dinner...it will be an amazing night, I promise." Her boyfriend said, grinning.

"Honey, you really don't have to take me anywhere, I told you...I."

"Em, please, just be ready at 7 and look as pretty as only you know how to look." He ordered gently.

"Okay...sir." She teased.

"Where are you anyway?" She inquired, as she walked back inside the BAU.

"I'm at Peets Coffee just getting a quick bite, I'll be back shortly."

"Alright, be careful….I love you, Agent Hotchner."

"I love you, too, sweetheart," He hung up the phone with a big smile on his face. He couldn't wait until he got home and took his fiancée for dinner and then had an amazing time with her.

He proceeded to eat his sandwich and continued working on his laptop for about twenty minutes, until he was interrupted.

"It looks like we keep running into each other, don't we?" Beth said, siting in the chair in front of him, Hotch just glared at her. He was not quite sure how she could have gotten there since not many people knew about the coffee shop besides he and Emily because it was kind of like their secret place.

"Hi, Agent Clemons, I was just getting ready to leave." Hotch said, closing his laptop.

"Uh, sure. Well, I was wondering if I could talk to you about some...um...issues about work." Beth stammered, while running her hands through her hair insinuatingly.

"I think we should discuss work matters at work, Agent Clemons." Hotch answered politely.

"I kind of want to discuss these here, privately, it's a little hard for me, please." Beth begged, Hotch nodded, a little uncomfortable, but acquiesced to listen to the agent.

At the end, it turned out it was another set up from Beth. There was nothing she wanted to discuss with him, she just kept going around in circles asking all kinds of idiotic questions about protocol and regulations that Hotch was sure would never have any meaning for her. By the time he managed to get rid of Beth, he had spent another thirty minutes there, and now, he was late for his other meeting. He quickly drove away and headed to the BAU hoping he could make it to his meeting with the Directors on time.

Meanwhile, the bullpen was quieter than usual since everyone was working on their cases. Of course, it was almost Friday night and everyone was so ready to go home, they just wanted to finish as soon as they could. Beth walked in with a huge grin on her face, fidgeting around the bullpen and making her presence evident to everyone. Morgan, who was the one who got a long the best with her, smiled at her wondering what she was smiling about.

"What's with the smile, Beth. I thought you just went for lunch, and by the way, you took a lot longer than anyone else...care to explain?" Morgan teased.

"Oh sorry, Morgan, I lost track of time. I was having so much fun. I never laughed so much in my life, Agent Hotchner is definitely something else." She said, with an evil smile. Emily froze and turned to look at her in shock.

"Agent Hotchner?" Morgan asked incredulously, looking at Emily who was ready to slap her.

"Oh yeah, we had lunch together, he wanted to talk to me about some stuff, but we lost track of time. I'm sure since he's the one that kept me late, I won't be in trouble." Beth said, sitting down at her desk as she delivered her evil plot plan eying Emily with a wicked smile. Emily was sure she was just trying to get under her skin, and she was probably making stuff up.

"You went to lunch with Hotch? But that can't be possible, he left way after us, where did you even go?" Reid asked in disbelief.

Oh, we just went to this coffee shop he likes...Peet's Coffee, quite a nice place by the way." With those words, Emily felt a knot in her stomach and got up from her desk picking up some files and walking abruptly to Garcia's offices.

"You know, Beth, I really think you should be more respectful of Emily. I get that you have no shame for some stuff, but they are engaged and no matter how hard you try to get in his pants, it just won't happen, he loves her. Why don't you just get the picture!" JJ said angrily, shaking her head going after her friend. Morgan just shook his head, and Beth stood there acting like she had no idea what had happened.

By the time Hotch came out of his meeting, it was almost five, and he was so tired, he wanted to go home and spend the rest of his evening with his fiancée. Emily had spent the rest of her afternoon in Garcia's office because she was sure she would kill Beth if she went back out to the bullpen. Hotch walked into his office and looked around and failed to see his fiancée anywhere nearby. He made his way to Garcia's offices to drop some files he wanted her to work on. He knocked on the door and walked in and was very surprised to see Emily in there, looking very upset, who immediately got up taking her purse and walking past him without even looking at him. Hotch stood there in shock.

"What is going on? Are you guys in a fight or something?" He asked the technical analyst, very worried.

"No, _YOU_ are." Penelope said angrily, looking up at her boss.

"What…how…what did I do?" Hotch asked, in shock.

"Did you have lunch with Beth?" The blonde woman asked, suddenly very angry.

"What!?" Hotch asked again.

"You and Beth, lunch at Peet's Coffee this morning, did you or did you not have lunch with her?" Penelope asked, pointing her red nails at him.

"I...no...we didn't, well, she showed up there and asked me questions about the BAU and work matters, but she's the one who showed up there without my knowledge or invitation." Hotch defended himself.

"Well, you'd better find a way to prove that, and you'd better find a good witness to that because Beth claims you invited her there, and you had an amazing time laughing together!" Penelope snapped.

"Oh no, I have to go! I need to talk to Em. Please take care of these. I really have to go." Hotch said, rushing out of Penelope's office, then out of the BAU.

He caught Emily in the parking lot getting in her car. By the time he approached her, he was out of breath from running six floors down.

"Em, stop...please!" He stopped in front of her and saw that her eyes were very red.

"I'm going home, please get out of my way." Emily warned.

"Emily, please listen to me."

"I don't want to listen to you. Why don't you go talk to Beth if you're in such a chatty mood." His fiancée said through clenched teeth.

"I didn't have lunch with her, Emily." Aaron said, looking at her sadly.

"Oh really, how else did she know about that place?"

"I don't know, Em, she just showed up there, I swear." Emily shook her head as tears rolled down her face.

"Em, baby, please..."

"Get out of the way, Aaron, I want to go home!" Emily was beyond pissed, he could tell by her tone, so he had no choice but to move and watch her go.

By the time he got to his place Emily was sleeping with her back to him. Damn Beth and her bullshit! He had really screwed up big time.


	4. Chapter 4

Framed

Chapter 4: The Sweetest Man in the World

The following couple of days were a little difficult for the couple…Aaron tried to explain to Emily that he had not invited Beth to lunch at least a hundred times, but it didn't matter, she was still mad at him. Actually, more than mad, she was hurt, first because Peet's was their secret special place where they usually would sneak out to have a cup of coffee and sometimes lunch during work hours, and it was basically a place the team didn't know about, and Emily liked the privacy of that. Aaron was now certain that Beth had followed him there, which probably meant that she had been waiting for him for over half an hour in the parking lot then stalking him and follow him into the coffee shop. He knew Beth was a woman that liked to flirt with men, and not only with him of that he was sure; just a day before, he had witnessed how she insinuated herself to the new leader of the counter terrorism floor.

It was basically like a game for her, to get all the attention she could from men, he was sure it made her feel good. He truly couldn't do much about it since she hadn't technically broken any rules yet. Yes, she had been a psycho that had followed him into a coffee shop just to cause a fight between him and his fiancée, but he had no way to prove that. Besides, she had showed up there and insisted on talking about work matters; had she done anything improper, he wouldn't have thought twice about writing her up for inappropriate behavior. But she had not really even done anything so offensive that he could actually claim as sexual harassment, although he was certain she was mainly doing it to piss Emily off.

He couldn't really do anything against Beth as much as he wanted to. Nevertheless, what he could do was set up a boundary for Beth…he really didn't want to bring her into his office and lecture her, or throw in her face that he was engaged to Emily, because then they could be the one getting in trouble. So, he thought of something cleverer, and this evening would be the perfect opportunity to put it in place…the team was supposed to meet at Dave's house for a spaghetti night. It was a little tradition they had, once every six months if time allowed it, Aaron arranged a gathering for the team. Not just to go out and have drinks or dinner, but something much more special. He and Dave decided having a cooked meal at Dave's mansion once every six months was a perfect way to bring the team together to just relax and talk, dance, whatever they made of it, they usually debriefed and talked about how they were doing and even cheered for the things they were thankful about. That way, everyone got to speak and say how they truly felt away from the workplace, it was a good thing for the team, and Aaron was really looking forward to that evening.

Things were still cold between him and Emily; they had talked, yes, but she was still hurt and upset, and he knew it. She was basically acting distant and pretended to be asleep every time he joined her in bed and even left before him in the mornings. He knew Beth had become a really sore point between them, and as much as he hated to admit it, Emily was right, Beth was intentionally flirting with him and throwing herself at him and insinuating herself into his life. He truly understood where Emily was coming from and he couldn't blame her for being mad; honestly, if he was in her position, and there was a man insinuating himself to her and flirting with her like that, he would be furious and would probably shoot that man. He just simply wanted to make things okay between them again, and he had an idea how to get his fiancée to stop being mad. He woke up before her and headed to work like he normally did any other day…a few hours later, he saw her arrive at Quantico and a smile spread across his face.

Emily walked into the bullpen ready to finish her work and head home to get ready for their night at Dave's place. She and Aaron still weren't talking very well after the Beth incident…well, actually that wasn't true, he had tried to talk to her, but she was still upset. She just wanted him to understand how it bothered her when Beth acted like that and for him to do something about it. She sighed and walked further into the bullpen, dropping her bag on her desk and taking off her coat. It was when she realized there was a cup of coffee from her favorite coffee shop sitting on her desk. It was a cinnamon dolce latte, her favorite coffee, there was also a blueberry muffin next to it, which happened to be her favorite pastry. A small smile spread across her face, and she turned to look up to her fiancée's office and saw that his door happened to be closed. She would thank him later; she sat down and proceeded to work quietly. Around noon, she was still quietly working on a case when a man called her name.

"Excuse me, I'm looking for Agent Emily Prentiss." The man said…Emily looked up and turned to see the gentleman that had called her name, who was carrying the biggest bouquet of flowers Emily had ever seen. The man was truly struggling to carry the flower arrangement.

"Um…that's me." Emily said in shock.

"Hello ma'am, these are for you." The man walked toward her setting the bouquet on her desk.

"Oh, thank you." Emily said, blushing, since everyone was now turning around to look at her.

"Can you sign here, please?" Emily nodded and rushed to sign the paper, so the guy could leave, then she turned to see her friends looking at her like it was the morning of Christmas.

"So, who are the flowers from, princess?" Morgan asked, walking toward her.

"I don't know, I..."

"Oh my God, they're the most beautiful flowers I've ever seen, geez, you got the entire flower shop there, Em." JJ said, smiling widely.

"Let's find out, shall we?" Morgan said, taking the card from the arrangement.

"Derek, please…" Emily pleaded, trying to take the card from his hands, but he held the card far away from her.

" _For the most beautiful woman in the universe. Just because I love you more than anything in this world. Thank you for being the most amazing thing that has ever happened to me."_

 _With all my love,_

 _Aaron_

"Aww, that is the sweetest and most romantic thing ever." Penelope said, taking the card from Derek's hands. Emily blushed as all her friends were staring at her with wide eyes smiling widely.

"He is so sweet." JJ smiled.

Emily finally took the card in her hands and read it again smiling widely, it was then that she was aware of dumbfounded Beth staring at her with hatred in her eyes. She smiled and pulled out her cellphone shooting a quick text message:

 _Thank you for the flowers…I love you, too. Em_

Aaron received the message and smiled widely; he really was looking forward to dinner tonight. Emily left before him that afternoon, since he had a couple more cases to review but around six, he headed home to change. The couple arrived together at Dave's place around seven; everyone was already waiting there for them. Aaron was wearing black pants and a dark gray dress shirt, no tie; Emily was wearing a pretty beige dress and heels. Dave had made two kinds of pasta and a salad, plus some appetizers, Penelope brought some dessert and other goodies, and Derek, of course, brought a bottle of whisky, Emily and Aaron, on their side, opted for a bottle of champagne so the team could make a toast. It was a truly pleasant evening, with laughter and jokes and each one telling anecdotes of days and cases from the past and stupid things they had done. Their usual debriefing took place in the living room where everyone was cozied up with a drink in their hands. Aaron watched as everyone on the team talked about their most difficult case, even he told some of his difficult times, then they went around again talking about what they were grateful for. He watched everyone on his team smile and be thankful for the good things the BAU brought to their life. It was now his time to speak, so he actually stood up from the couch before he started.

"Okay, so, first of all, thank you everyone for being so open and sharing all of this, you all know how important it is for our team to have these gatherings and talkings about how we feel."

"I also want to thank all of you for the amazing job you do out there every day and night. I really think I have the most amazing team in the entire USA, and for that I'm greatly…" Everyone smiled.

"I'm actually thankful for every single experience the BAU has brought to my life, but I think the one that has the biggest meaning to me is that the BAU brought me the most amazing and gorgeous woman I could ever meet." He said, eyeing his fiancé as Emily just looked at him in shock.

After my divorce with Haley, my life basically ended, and I never thought I would be able to love again. I didn't think it was possible, but then I met this incredible, beautiful woman who changed my life and turned my world upside down, and whom I couldn't live without. I think my life would be empty without you, baby." He told her as he watched her eyes fill with tears.

"-I love you so much, baby, and I would always " _only"_ have eyes for you and " _only_ " you, and I can't wait to make you my wife." He said, finally pulling her up from the couch and bringing her to him for a kiss. Emily was now crying, but she held him close. He had made sure Beth heard every single word, especially the "only" part, and Emily had also realized he had done it intentionally, and she was so touched at his gesture.

"To Emily and Hotch." Morgan said, holding up his glass. The entire team hoisted their glasses and cheered for them, everyone except Beth, of course, who was sitting on the couch very uncomfortable and angry.

A while later, Dave played some music and Penelope started dancing with Derek and JJ with Reid, it was still a beautiful night. Dinner had been amazing and now Emily and Aaron had reconciled. He pulled her onto the dance floor and held her close to him while they swayed to the slow music kissing her every now and then.

"So, are we okay?" He asked Emily, holding her close to him.

"We are perfect, and you are the sweetest man in the world." She smiled, kissing him again; they were unaware of the way Beth was staring at them from a few feet away, but the entire night she had not uttered a single word.

"It's amazing when you see true love isn't it, and it's even more amazing when true love wins over evil isn't it?" David told Beth with a devious grin. Beth just glared at him and turned around to leave the party. So what if they had made up, she had another plan to separate them, and she was sure it would work…no matter what she had to do she would get him.


	5. Chapter 5

Framed

Chapter 5: The Tramp

"Oh my God, this one is divine!" Penelope squealed, pointing at the magazine as she was sitting on top of Emily's desk.

"I think you would look awesome in something like this one." JJ pointed at the other dress. Emily smiled widely at her two best friends.

"God, I don't even know where to begin to decide what from what. I swear, this is the most difficult decision I will ever have to make." She said, exasperated as she glanced through one of the other magazines.

"Peaches, you're getting married, and choosing your dress is the best part. Oh my God! I'm so excited!" Penelope squealed again.

"I still can't believe it! I never thought it would happen, you know, finding the right guy and all." Emily said, glancing toward her boyfriend's office.

The girls were all gathered around Emily's desk, and since it was around their lunchtime, they weren't technically breaking any rules. They had decided to start planning Emily's wedding since she and Aaron were to be married in four months, and basically, they were running out of time, and there was still so much to do. They had already put a hold on the church, and Dave, of course, had taken care of the salon and catering part already, since he was the best man. However, there was still a lot of planning to do. Emily had not gotten her dress yet, and neither had her bridesmaids, Penelope and JJ.

They had to take care of the invitations and favors and all the other million things a wedding entailed. Thankfully, she had amazing friends that were there to help her and support her.

The guys returned a few minutes later from lunch with Dave and looked as the girls looking in the magazine on Emily's desk. They were all giggling and smiling goofily.

"Are you ladies watching porn in there?" Derek asked as he approached his desk.

"Just because you are a pervert, Derek, doesn't, mean we all are." JJ said, rolling her eyes at him. In that moment, Beth happened to be walking into the bullpen, as well.

"Then, what is making you all smile like that?" He inquired smiling.

"Wedding dresses, plum sauce? Penelope said showing him the magazine.

"Oh, that would do. so when is the big day princess?"

"August 3rd" Emily announced happily.

"I see, well, I do have to say I never thought I would see the day Aaron Hotchner would lose his head over a woman again." They all laughed and Emily blushed.

"What can I say, I have that effect on men." Emily teased.

Beth was staring at everyone, but pretended to not listen to the conversation, and she quietly went back to work; a while later, everyone else did the same. Very soon, the bullpen was very quiet again and everyone was quietly working on their files; Morgan was working on some case with Reid, and they headed toward the conference room to work there quietly. Rossi and Hotch were of course in their respective offices working, and Emily was working at her own desk, typing her last report when Beth approached her.

"Emily, I'm sorry…to bother you." Beth said meekly.

"What do you want, Beth?" Emily answered, a little rudely.

"I…was just…I was just wondering if we could talk." Beth said, apologetically.

"Talk? I really don't think we have anything to talk about, and I really have to finish my report so I would really appreciate it if you can leave me alone." Emily snapped.

"Look, I know we started off on the wrong foot here, I just want to make things right." Beth said, looking at her sadly.

"We started off on the wrong foot!? I'm sorry, did I miss something here…I have done nothing to you, Beth." Emily said, shaking her head, she really had no time for her bullshit.

"I think there has been a misunderstanding between us." Beth said again.

"You flirting with my fiancé and throwing yourself at him in front of me is a misunderstanding! Look, I don't have time for your bullshit, so…" Emily stood up from her desk.

"Emily, wait please…"

"Look. I know I was wrong, I never meant to hurt you, I was stupid, I just want to start from zero." Beth told her again.

"I don't know if I can trust anything that comes from your mouth." Emily glared at her.

"I understand and you have reasons to feel that way, but we are going to have to work for many years together, and the least we can do is try to make work tolerable for each other."

"Yeah, maybe you should start with yourself." Emily bit back angrily.

"I am trying, please give me a chance." Beth begged.

"Fine."

"Let's have coffee later today." Beth proposed, and Emily snorted sarcastically.

"You're kidding, right."

"I'm just trying to fix things. Look, I made a horrible mistake. and I'm so sorry for everything I did. I love this job and I want to be able to enjoy it. I want to have the same relationship you guys have with the rest of the team…be part of the family."

Emily just looked at her skeptically.

"I don't know, Beth…. I just." Emily said, shaking her head.

"Please, just twenty minutes, just coffee, that's all, I just want to make up for my mistakes." Beth begged again.

"Alright, but only twenty minutes. I have plans tonight." Emily told her, shortly.

"Thank you so much, you won't regret it." Beth smiled at her and walked back to her desk.

Around five o'clock Emily headed out of the office to meet Beth; she wasn't really sure about her intensions, but she seemed sincere, and Emily had promised Aaron she would tried to get along with Beth for his own sanity. She met Beth at 5.15 at the coffee shop and both agents ordered a cop of coffee and sat down to talk.

"Thank you so much for meeting me, Emily, this really means a lot for me, I really want to fix things between us." Beth said, looking at her.

"Sure, I kind of want things to be okay, too, you know." Emily smiled shortly, stirring at her coffee.

Both agents sat there and talked for at least twenty minutes, Beth seem very sincere and apologetic, she kept apologizing over and over to Emily about her actions and about showing interest in Aaron. She claimed it was unintentional and she never meant to hurt Emily, and she was very aware of how much he loved her and even claimed being very happy about the upcoming wedding. To Emily's surprise she gave her many suggestions about her wedding, the best places to get the cake, and a great photographer she knew. Soon they were both smiling and Emily realized maybe Beth wasn't such a bad person after all. Emily had not realized they had been at the coffee shop for almost one hour, until her cell phone rang.

"Oh my God, hold on, I have to get this." Emily said smiling. getting up from the table and walking away. Beth smiled at her and nodded, watching her walk away. Beth waited until Emily was far away enough to reach into her purse and pull the small glass bottle, spilling the liquid into Emily's coffee, and stirring the beverage carefully glancing around to make sure no body had watched her.

Emily retuned a few minutes later, smiling widely.

"Is everything okay?" Beth asked, concerned.

"Yeah, that was Aar...Hotch." Emily said.

"It's okay, Emily, you can call him Aaron in front of me, he is your fiancé, its normal."

Beth giggled and Emily smiled.

"So, what did he want?" Beth asked, innocently.

"We're having dinner tonight, and he wanted to make sure I was ready by the time he is going to pick me up." Emily said, smiling like an idiot and bringing the cup of coffee to her lips.

"That sounds like fun, I'll bet he is a passionate man, isn't he?" Beth asked, watching as Emily blushed.

"Oh my God, Beth!" Emily said, taking more sips of her coffee.

"I'm just teasing you." Beth said, smiling at her and watching as the brunette acted more confused. After a few minutes, Emily started feeling a little odd, a little hazy maybe.

"Are you okay, Emily?" Beth asked.

"Yeah, I am just a little dizzy…" Emily said, bringing her hands to her face, as everything blurred around her and watched as Beth smiled at her evilly. She didn't know what was going on but she started losing consciousness of everything around her..


	6. Chapter 6

Framed

Chapter 6: The Beth Bitch Project

Emily slowly woke up with her head pounding and everything around her a complete fog. She had no idea what was going on; she felt very dizzy and, in fact, she felt quite nauseous. She slowly opened her eyes and could hardly focus on the images around her. Finally, her mind began to clear and realized she was in a room, a room that was not hers, and it looked more like a hotel room. _What the hell is going on, and how in the hell did I get here?_ She tried sitting up on the bed but was too weak; she felt very groggy, and she wanted to throw up. As she tried to sit up on the bed, she realized she was naked, and then realization hit her.

"Oh my God!" She exclaimed, as tears started forming in her eyes, and she started to freak out. Emily slowly got off the bed, and the first thing she was aware of was the time. It was almost ten o'clock in the morning.

"Oh God, No, No, No, Aaron!" Tears started rolling down her cheeks against her will; she had no idea what had happened and how she had gotten there, but one thing she was sure about…Aaron couldn't find out. Emily remembered she was supposed to have dinner with him the night before, and she was supposed to be back in her apartment and be ready to leave by seven for their date that night. She remembered she had coffee with Beth and that was all, or at least, that was as far as she could remember.

"I need to call the cops…no, I can't call the cops…Goddammit!" She cried as she wrapped the sheet around her naked frame and started moving around the room panicked. She found her purse on the floor and pulled out her phone. Just as she had expected, she had a million missed calls from Aaron. She knew he was probably furious, but she just couldn't call him…not until she found out what had happened. She dialed another number on her phone and a voice came on immediately.

"Where the hell are you, darlin'…everyone has been worried about you?" Clyde answered, concern evident in his voice.

"Clyde, something happened, I need you to come, please." She sobbed on the phone.

"Are you okay? Where the hell are you?" Clyde asked, grabbing his car keys and fleeing out of the bullpen on the ninth floor of Quantico, the counter terrorism unit.

"I don't know, a hotel somewhere, just get here, please." Emily said groggily, as more tears rolled down her cheeks.

"I'll track your phone. Are you drunk?" Clyde asked, noticing the slurring of her words.

"No, something happened…just please get here!" Emily begged, hanging up her phone.

She glanced around the room, realizing her clothes were scattered everywhere on the floor, and tears pooled and ran down her face. She couldn't have cheated on Aaron, there was no way, she just knew she wouldn't have done something like that. Emily went into the bathroom and rinsed her face; she knew by the way she felt, she was on something. She had been drugged or chloroformed, but she would have remembered if someone attacked her on the street. _Why the hell couldn't she remember a single thing?_ She grabbed the bathrobe from the bathroom covering her body and wiping the tears away.

About ten minutes later, she heard the knock on the door and walked over immediately to let him in. Emily opened the door, and there was her lifelong friend, one of the few persons in this world she could trust. Clyde knew immediately by the look on her face something bad had really happened. Emily went his arms immediately and started sobbing uncontrollably.

"What the hell happened, are you okay? Emily, you're scaring me." Clyde said, pulling her inside the room.

"I can't remember anything…I think someone drugged me, and I think…" But, she couldn't even utter the words.

"Okay, calm down, what is the last thing you remember?" Clyde asked, sitting her on the bed and wiping her eyes trying to make her calm down.

"I don't know, I went to meet Beth for coffee, and I can't remember anything else after that. I don't even know how I got here. I was supposed to meet Aaron after that, and…" She was talking so fast Clyde could hardly keep up.

"Wait, wait, slow down, you had coffee with Beth? Beth Clemmons…from the office?" Clyde asked astonished.

"Yeah, we were supposed to talk and clear up our differences; she wanted to offer peace between us, and..." She cried.

"Oh God, Emily." Clyde was not a profiler, but he didn't need to be one to realize what he thought happened.

"She said she wanted things to be okay between us, and for her to be a part of our family, I…" With those words, Emily started sobbing again.

"Okay, calm down, darling, what did you drink?"

"Nothing, just coffee." Emily said meekly.

"No alcohol or anything else?"

"No, Clyde, of course not, we were at a coffee shop."

"She could have slipped something in your drink." Clyde delivered the bad news.

"I was with her the entire time; I would have seen her." Emily said, trying to remember.

"You didn't go to the bathroom at all, or left the table during any of that time?"

"No, well…yes, just when I answered Aaron's call, but that was like a minute only." Clyde closed his eyes as he watched his best friend crying.

"Oh God, Em, I need to call the police." He said, pulling out his phone.

"No, no, you cannot call the police." Emily screamed hysterically.

"Why not!? Emily, I have to! I…she…or someone, did this, it's a crime…we need to report it to the police."

"No, please don't call the police, PLEASE!" Emily begged.

"Why…are you freaking out?" Clyde asked in shock.

"Aaron cannot find out. If we call the cops, he'll know, he can't know, Clyde. Aaron can't find out about this." Emily begged, crying.

"Emily, you just have been the victim of a crime, he needs to know." Clyde stopped looking at her…he didn't want to deliver the words, but he knew he had to. "Em, there is a very strong possibility that you were raped. I need to notify Aaron and the cops."

"God, I know that, Clyde, but Aaron would never forgive me; he will think it was my fault, or that I cheated on him. He cannot know, please, I'm begging you, don't call the cops!" Emily sobbed even harder.

"Emily, darlin', I need to do something." But, Emily sobbed even harder begging him not to notify the cops or Aaron.

"Okay, just calm down, okay, I won't call the cops, or Aaron, but I do need to call someone else that can help us…and you trust." Clyde said, standing up from the bed and dialing a number on his phone.

"This is Rossi." The voice came on the phone.

"Rossi, this is Clyde Easter, I need your help." Clyde said, watching as Emily curled up on the bed crying, her head buried in the pillows.

"What's going on?"

"It's Emily, you need to get here…immediately, and you can't tell anyone, especially Aaron, I'll text you the address."-

"I'm on my way." Dave said, hanging up immediately and rushing out of his office.

He knew it was something really bad the minute he heard her name; in fact, he had been very worried about her himself. Aaron had come in that morning saying that Emily was not at her apartment when he went to pick her up the night before for their date. He had been very worried about her all night, so much so he had tried calling her phone almost all night, but there was no answer. It was then when Garcia told him Emily and Beth had gone to get coffee trying to smooth things between them for the sake of the team.

It was then when he realized that Beth was behind all of this, but the only thing that came to his mind was that Beth had probably pulled another one of her stunts and pitted Emily against Aaron to ruin their date. He just assumed Emily was mad at him for something Beth had made up, and he just needed to find a way to repair things between them. Unfortunately, Beth called in that morning, and Aaron had no chance to ask her anything; he knew if Beth had somehow managed to get in between them again, Emily was probably very mad and was not going to answer his calls at all.

It also explained the fact that she had not shown up to work, he didn't want to look too much into it, after knowing Beth, he was convinced that she had managed to make Emily very angry with him and that was the reason why she wasn't answering. Dave, on his side, knew something was up, everything seemed very sketchy even if, in fact, Beth had managed to make Emily furious with Aaron, she would still have answered his phone calls even if it was just to tell him to go to hell. So when Clyde called, he knew something really bad had happened.

Rossi arrived at the hotel and rushed to the room with the information Clyde had texted him; he knocked on the door softly, and Clyde opened the door letting him in. Rossi walked in and saw Emily still curled up in the bed, crying softly.

"What the hell is going on here?" He asked, very scared.

"I think Emily was drugged and possibly raped." Dave felt like he had been punched in the face since Emily was like a daughter to him.

"Emily, what happened, honey?" He walked to the bed and sat next to her.

"I don't know, I can't remember anything. I was having coffee with Beth, and I don't remember anything else." Emily responded, as she choked on her own tears.

"Okay, I'm calling Aaron and the FBI team." But, before he could stand up from the bed, Emily grabbed him forcibly.

"No, please, don't call anyone especially not Aaron, no one can know about this." Emily cried again.

"Emily, I have to report this, we need to tell Aaron, especially if you were raped."

"No, he won't believe it, he's going to hate me, he's going to think the worst, he won't even believe something happened, Dave." She finally said, sitting on the bed.

"Emily, if Beth did this." 

"We don't know if she did it, we don't know if anything happened…I can't remember a thing…I have no marks, or signs that I was forced. You know the process, Dave. It's going to be so hard to prove someone did something to me." Dave knew she was right, they had no way to make a case. She definitely had no signs of force, and cases like this would be impossible to prove…they had no idea if they even had a case.

"I need to at least take you to the doctor. I need to see if they did something to you." Dave said, with so much pain in his eyes.

"I don't want anyone to know, please. I just want to go home. If we go to the hospital, they would report it to the cops, please, Dave. I can't, Aaron would hate me." She cried again, clinging onto him, crying desperately.

"Okay, Bella, calm down. I have a friend in a clinic here, he would not report it if I ask him not to, but we have to get you to the doctor, please. Emily, we need to know what they gave you. At least, to try and find out what happened." Dave explained gently.

"Okay, but promise me you won't call Aaron until we know more. "She begged, tears forming in her eyes again.

"I won't, but we need to get you to a medical facility, honey."

Meanwhile, Aaron was at the BAU working on some cases; he had literally had no sleep at all that night. He had been trying to call Emily all night, but she was not answering his phone calls. He knew she was very angry with him, and that Beth somehow had managed to get in between them again; it was the only thing that could explain why she had not been home for their date and was ignoring his calls. He knew he had to go after her, but for now, he had to concentrate on work…he tried to push the negative feelings away, if something bad had happened to her he would have known by now. It had to be the Beth thing; it was the only thing that made sense. He was deep in thought when someone knocked on the door.

"Come in."

"Agent Hotchner." A younger guy said, holding an envelope in his hands.

"Yes, how can I help you?"

"I have this package for you." The guy offered him a small package and showed him where to sign on a line on a sheet on a clipboard.

After he watched the young man walk away, he opened the envelope and stared aghast at the contents. Contained therein were a bunch of pictures, pictures of Emily naked on a bed with another man.


	7. Chapter 7

Framed

Chapter 7: Unfaithful

Emily lay on the bed at the clinic where Dave and Clyde had taken her and tried as hard as she could to keep her tears at bay, but she just couldn't do it…it was impossible. She had absolutely no idea what had happened to her the previous night, and the worst thoughts were coming into her mind. Emily could not remember one single thing and that pained her greatly; she tried very hard to focus on at least the last thing she remembered, but after the coffee place and her meeting with Beth, her mind was a complete fog. She felt she would remember if she was attacked on the street, or chloroformed, but she did not remember anything such as that happening. What scared her the most was what Aaron was going to say to her about all of this; she was convinced he was already furious with her for missing their date the night before, let alone her not answering any of his calls. Emily had no idea how she was going to face him, or what she was going to say to him. How could she tell her fiancé she had been drugged and possibly raped the night before, and that was why she had missed their date? How could she tell the love of her life that she had possibly cheated on him, even though she didn't remember anything like that happening. She wiped her eyes when she heard the door open and watched as the nurse walked in.

"Ma'am, the doctor is going to be back shortly to speak to you about your test results; in the meantime, I'm going to collect more blood samples," the blue-eyed woman said warmly. Emily nodded meekly and watched the nurse walk out of the room after she had drawn more blood. Another ten minutes went by, and there was another knock on the door. Dave and Clyde, who had been trying to investigate what had happened to Emily for the past two hours, both entered looking at their friend sadly.

"Are you okay, darling?" And Emily responded with another nod, and both man knew she was anything but fine. They truly wished they could do more and get the police involved, but Emily had begged them crying not to call the police.

Both men understood perfectly well where she was coming from and they felt terrible for her. They both felt she had been set up and as much as they both hated to admit it, the whole thing was a shitty mess. Dave also knew Aaron well enough to know how this case would look in his eyes…it would be very hard to prove she had been assaulted even if they had called the police…there was no evidence of a struggle and as far as they could tell, Emily had no recollections of the acts, so they were not even sure what had happened. Things turned out even worse when Dave found Emily's car in the parking lot of the hotel, and he knew what that meant. Of course, Dave was convinced that Emily had been setup by Beth, but he didn't know why, and unfortunately so far, it looked like Emily had driven herself to the hotel. There were no cameras in the parking lot of the hotel, so they had nowhere to start their search.

"Em, I need to talk to you about something." Dave said in the kindest tone he could use with her.

Emily turned to look at him with a pale face and red eyes, and it broke his heart because he knew within a few minutes he was going to give her news that was going to devastate her.

"What's going on?" She asked, hoping they had found a clue.

"We found your car in the hotel parking lot." Dave watched as her face dropped.

"What! That…that can't...it can't be possible…I didn't…go there on my own." Tears finally rolled down her cheeks.

"Are you saying that nothing happened, I'm making all of this up?" She asked, offended.

"No, no, Em, calm down, please…I'm not saying that! The only reason I haven't called the police is because you asked me not to." Dave said, getting close to her and holding her hands, then wiping her eyes gently.

"I'm saying whoever did this wanted to target you for a reason."

"Beth! That whore, I swear…she is behind all of this." Clyde shouted angrily.

"But, I don't understand what Beth could gain with doing this, I haven't done anything to her." Emily said, as more tears rolled down her cheeks.

"I don't know, Em, but the one thing you can be sure about is I will find out!" Dave vowed to her; Emily was about to say something else when they were interrupted by the doctor.

"How is everyone doing?" The kindly white-haired man asked. They all nodded and waited for him to give them the results of the tests and his examination of Emily.

"Okay, Emily, are you ready for what I'm about to tell you?" He asked, looking at the crying woman in front of him, who barely nodded.

"We found traces of Rohypnol Ketamine in your blood which means you were drugged, but the sexual exam they performed on you tested negative for semen or sexual assault." He said, looking at them; his news was both a bomb and a relief. Emily had not been raped, but she had been drugged for a reason. Why was she naked on the bed, and what if her attacker had used a condom?

"What does this mean, Dr. Collins, why was she drugged then?" Dave asked.

"You are the FBI agent here, I'm afraid I cannot give you any more information, but she has no signs of sexual assault, or any saliva, or any DNA connection, that can be traced to her attacker." Dr. Collins responded, wishing he could help them more.

"Thank you, Dr. Collins." Dave said worriedly, as he watched Emily cover her face again to hide her tears. No matter what he had to do, Dave knew he needed to find whomever did this to his friend and when he found them, he would kill him or her.

After Dr. Collins released her, they took Emily back to her apartment, and both man headed back to work. Emily was now in the shower and had been there for a while. No matter what the doctor said, she felt like she had been raped, and she scrubbed her body what felt like a hundred times at least and she still couldn't get the filthy feeling off her body. Emily stood there in the tub for a while longer letting the hot water wash her tears away. After a while, she walked out of the room and put on a pair of pants and a long-sleeved shirt. She cuddled on her couch wrapped in a blanket as she rolled into the couch crying quietly. She must have fallen asleep crying, because the next thing she knew there was a knock on her apartment door. Emily slowly got up and walked toward the door and looked through the peephole, her heart dropping when she saw her fiancé on the other side. She had not returned any of his calls yet, or spoken to him since the previous night, and she had no idea how she was going to face him, but he was here now, and she had to talk to him.

"Hey." She said with watery eyes, as she moved to let him in; she could see the sparks in his eyes, and she knew he was beyond mad.

So, you are okay, right? Nothing happened to you? You're not hurt in any way, or you're not in the hospital?" Aaron asked harshly.

"Aaron, I can explain everything…I just..." She said, as she felt herself choke on her own tears, but she was cut off immediately by him.

Save it! I don't give a damn!" Aaron barked, and Emily's eyes widened. She knew he was mad, but she was not expecting this; she had not seen him this angry since she had known him.

Aaron..."

"You know, I'm a fucking idiot…I've been up all night crazy worried about you, thinking that something had happened to you, and I just realized what a fucking fool I am." He said with poison in his eyes

"What are you talking about?" Emily asked, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Goddammit, Emily, don't treat me like I'm a fucking fool." He screamed, making her jump.

Emily was so confused…he couldn't already know about what happened last night…there was no way.

Please calm down so I can explain to you what happened." She pleaded.

"I don't want you to explain anything, I came here to tell you I can't believe I fell in love with someone like you."

What?!" Emily yelped as she felt her chest ache from the pain of his words and his treatment of her.

All of a sudden, Aaron pulled a packet of pictures from his coat and threw them at her. I can't believe you would do something like this to me." Emily immediately leaned down to the floor to pick up the pictures, and her whole world stopped spinning, and she couldn't breathe. They were pictures of her naked in a hotel room with another man, and they clearly looked like something had happened.

"Oh my God!" She screamed and covered her mouth, crying.

"This is not…this is not what you think…this is not true, I was set up, Aaron." Emily cried, as she tried to approach him so she could explain what had happened.

Don't! don't touch me, get away from me…you have nothing to explain." He said harshly, moving away from her.

Aaron, please, please…you have to listen to me. I know how this looks, but I need you to listen to me, please." Emily begged, with heavy tears rolling from her eyes.

"I can't believe you would do this after everything we've been through. I cannot believe I fell in love with you, and I was going to marry you." Aaron's words hurt her so much she couldn't bear the pain.

I was drugged, Aaron, I need you to listen to me, please." She begged him again.

I don't want to see you ever in my life again, and you can keep the ring. As far as I'm concerned, you're dead to me." And with those words, Aaron spun around and slammed out of her apartment, leaving Emily alone, crying, on the carpet of their apartment.


	8. Chapter 8

Framed

Chapter 8: Framed

Emily woke up slowly the next morning, but she could barely remember the events of the night before; as she became more awake, her mind started to recollect everything that happened during the previous day. She felt the knot in her stomach begin to form when she opened her eyes and groggily glanced at the clock in front of her; it was a little past nine in the morning. She didn't want to get out of bed so she just stayed in the bed and closed her eyes as she felt the tears prickling in her eyes again. Emily remained in bed for a little while longer, but eventually got up.

She didn't have to go to work given the circumstances of what happened. Dave had arranged for her to take a few days off, but after thinking about everything that happened, she wasn't sure if she even wanted to return to the BAU. After the way Aaron treated her the night before, the last thing she wanted to do is step foot in the office again, but deep down, Emily knew that was not a choice. She would have never imagined Aaron would have treated her like that.

By now, she had determined she had been set up by Beth to make her break up with Aaron, but what she had never imagined was that Aaron was going to doubt her and treat her the way he had. His words to her still hurt her so badly, and the worse part was that he had never even given her a chance to explain anything. He didn't want to hear anything she said, or even that she could have been raped or worse…he didn't care about that, maybe Aaron wasn't who she thought he was after all.

After she got out of the shower, Emily headed downstairs to check her emails and to finish some paperwork she had brought home; while she was working on this, a knock on the door brought her back from her thoughts. She had been staring mindlessly at her laptop screen for over an hour without doing anything. She got up and looked to see who it was and gently opened the door to let Dave in.

"Hey honey, how are you feeling? Dave asked, in a fatherly tone.

"I don't know, honestly." Emily said, sitting down on the couch.

"That's understandable. Emily, I want to start an investigation about what happened with you and..." But she shook her head, as tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Emily, I know you don't want to get the police involved, love, but this..." Dave started to say, but Emily broke in...

"I wasn't raped, Dave, nothing happened to me, it was Beth." Emily replied tiredly, as a few tears escaped her eyes.

"What do you mean?" Dave asked, his eyes furrowed in confusion.

"Beth set me up, she wanted to break us up." Emily pointed toward the envelop on her coffee table. Dave carefully picked up the envelope and started looking at the picture as anger rushed through his veins.

"Who gave you this?!" He asked angrily.

"Aaron." Emily replied, looking away as tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Oh honey." He didn't need to ask what happened, he just knew.

"He broke up with me."

"I'll talk to him, Emily, this is bullshit, you were set up, he cannot be serious? He believes this?" David said furiously.

"No, don't, it doesn't matter if you talk to him, he won't believe you. I know Aaron and so do you, it's over, Dave." Emily's eyes were full of tears again and it pained Dave so much to see Emily so upset and downhearted to the point of giving up.

"No, Emily, this is bullshit, he **_will_** listen to me!" Dave barked angrily, walking out of her apartment. Emily doesn't move to stop him because she knew Aaron, she had been with him long enough to know it wouldn't matter, their relationship was over.

An hour later, Dave stormed into Hotch's office without even bothering to knock on the door; Hotch looked up from his files surprised at the interruption.

"What's going on?" His face remained stern.

"Are you going to believe this crap?" Dave snapped, throwing the envelop at him furiously.

"Dave, with all due respect, this doesn't concern you." Aaron started.

"She was set up, Aaron, do you understand that she could have been raped." Dave screamed angrily.

"How do you know all of this!?" Aaron questioned angrily.

"Because she called me, Aaron, I went to pick her up at some random hotel. She had been drugged, and she didn't have any recollection of what happened the night before." Dave spit out, knowing Emily was going to be furious with him.

"And why didn't you call the police or the team, who else knows?" Aaron questioned in disbelief.

"Clyde Easter."

"So, she called you and Clyde Easter, how convenient. Why didn't you call the police?" Aaron questioned again with fire in his eyes.

"Because she didn't want to, Aaron, she was terrified. She didn't know what to do...she thought she had been raped." Dave snapped, exasperated.

"I don't understand how everything was fine when she left the office at three in the afternoon, and the next thing I know, she doesn't answer any of my calls after that...until I get these photographs to find out she had been spending the night with another man...while I spent an entire night worried sick about her!" Aaron snapped angrily.

"She didn't spend the night with anyone, Aaron, she was set up to make it look she did!" Dave screamed angrily.

"Really? Because this looks pretty fucking real to me!" He replied drily, throwing the pictures on the floor of the office.

"Look, I know you're angry, and this might seem like something it's not, Beth set her up."

"What does Beth have to do with anything? Aaron asked, confused.

"She did this, Aaron, she set Emily up to make it look like she had cheated on you, don't you see it?"

"Why would Beth do something like that?" Aaron replied.

"For God's sake, Aaron, stop acting like an idiot, that woman has been wanting to get in your pants since day one, she has basically thrown herself at you in front of Emily." Dave replied, getting even more upset.

"Emily didn't cheat on you, Aaron, you're making a huge mistake, and you're going to regret it." Aaron just stood there and shook his head angrily.

"How did Emily get to the Hotel?" Aaron asked suddenly.

"What?!" Dave asked, confused.

"If she was drugged, how was she taken to the hotel? I don't think they carried her inside, someone would have seen something." With that, Dave just looked away.

"I don't know, Aaron, her car was in the hotel garage, but that doesn't mean she drove there." Aaron just punched the desk angrily, and Dave was taken aback.

"See, you want me to believe this bullshit, you're just trying to cover up for her. I don't believe you about anything. There was no call to the cops, no evidence that she was drugged, did you even take her to a hospital?" He asked, with fire in his eyes.

"I did. She was drugged but not raped. I didn't take her to a local hospital because she didn't want to go there. We went to a friend of mine." Dave finished, knowing that was just going to upset Aaron more.

"I'm done talking about this, I don't believe any of your lies. It's over…she's dead to me." With that, Aaron spun around and stormed out of the office leaving Dave shaking his head.

This was going to be a tough one, as mad as he was with Aaron and as much as he wanted to punch him in the face. Dave couldn't blame him; he had just received incriminating pictures of his fiancée with another man in bed. The pictures were clearly set up to make it look like they were having sex, Dave had no way to prove Emily had been set up. The truth was nobody did. If they had called the cops like he wanted to, maybe they could have had a provable argument with Aaron. But, without that knowledge, Dave knew they had no way to prove Emily had not cheated on him. He stood there sadly looking at the door his best friend had just walked out of. He couldn't believe what was going on, Emily was hurting so much, and he wished there was something he could do to help her, but he knew the chances of Aaron and Emily getting back together were slim.


	9. Chapter 9

Framed

Chapter 9: Moving On

It had been a about a month since Emily and Aaron had broken up and since the whole incident with Beth had happened, and everyone was furious with him. By now, everyone knew what had happened, and they couldn't help but be furious with Aaron for the way he had treated Emily. Dave had tried to talk to him again, but it had been impossible because Aaron had literally refused to listen to anything anyone had to say to him; and he had refused to even leave his office unless it was for a case. In fact, he had turned into a completely different person, he was grumpy and snappy and on edge with everyone all the time. The entire team literally avoided going to him about anything unless it was necessary. Beth, however, was taking advantage of the opportunity and was trying to get as close as she could to Aaron, making everyone's blood boil.

Emily claimed she didn't care after how Aaron had treated her and how he had spoken to her. Everything between them was over, and for all she cared, he was free to do whatever he wanted with Beth and whomever else he wanted to, but the team knew she was still hurting badly and that she still loved him very much.

"I have some coffee for you, pretty lady." Morgan told her, placing a cup of freshly brewed cappuccino on her desk in front of her.

"Aren't you a sweetheart." Emily smiled, looking at him.

"Nah, I just like seeing you smile." Morgan told her, winking at her.

"Well, with this you definitely do." Emily teased, taking the cup of coffee, taking a sip, but putting it down almost instantly; for some reason, coffee was making her feel kind of sick lately, but she didn't want to make Morgan feel bad, so she pretended she was drinking it.

"So, I was thinking, we should all go out for drinks tonight, it's been a while since the team has been out." Morgan claimed, going around and sitting at his desk.

"Yeah, that's true, these hours are insane." Emily responded, leaning back in her seat. "I think I might actually head to a massage or something, I've been feeling so exhausted lately."

"Well, I have amazing hands, Prentiss." Morgan smiles mischievously at her.

"Oh, no thank you." Emily responded, laughing out loud and making him laugh as well.

"Sorry to interrupt the fun, but we have a case, guys." JJ comes running toward them.

"Oh man." Emily whined as they headed to the conference room.

They walked into the conference room just as Beth was leaning down closely to Aaron, and Emily felt like her heart was going to burst out of her chest, but she pretended she didn't see them and kept staring at the file in her hands. Dave and Morgan exchanged angry looks, and JJ approached the board a little abruptly making Beth jump.

"Sorry to interrupt but we have to start." JJ said, in a tone that made Aaron look at her in confusion. Beth sat down and JJ immediately started talking.

"Billings, Montana, needs our help...in the last month six women have disappeared from this area. All six women went missing after they left work, and they were driving home; they were abducted on their way home, they have been killed and raped." JJ explained.

"They were all blonde and in the same age range." Emily said, looking at the screen.

"Yes, so there is that…all victims have that in common." JJ nodded, looking at Emily.

"What is he doing to them? Reid questioned.

"That we still don't know; none of the women's bodies have been found yet." JJ explained.

"Wait, how do we know he is killing them and raping them?" Hotch asked.

"He calls the families and sends a recorded video tape to the family showing him raping them and then killing them."

A few minutes later, the video came on the screen, and the team watched, horrified, as the video focused on one of the women begging and crying for her life.

"Okay, wheels up in twenty..." Hotch informed, not even thinking twice about it and headed out of the conference room.

An hour later, the team was on the jet; Hotch was in the far corner reviewing the case, and Beth walked up to him to offer him coffee, and JJ just rolled her eyes angrily.

"I swear to God I just want to beat the shit out of her." JJ murmured under her breath.

"I won't stop you." Dave said from the other corner of the jet, looking at the woman with anger in his eyes.

"Guys, just please leave it, it's not worth it…okay? I'm fine, I swear." Emily told them while reading over the case.

"Let's just get this guy, please." She added, when she felt her friends glaring at her with worried eyes.

The team arrived in Billings, Montana, and started working at the station with Detective Johns on what they had so far along with the information about the latest victims. Reid and Morgan started working on victimology, while Emily and Rossi went to interview the victims' families, and Hotch, making everyone even angrier, left with Beth to visit other precincts. JJ, meanwhile, stayed behind to prepare for the press conference.

It was one of the most difficult cases the team had worked, and they simply couldn't get any leads to help find the unsub, or anything that could give them a clue to where the victims had been buried. It wasn't until the second day that one of their clues led them to an abandoned warehouse, and Emily and Dave were the first ones to arrive there. They knew very well the unsub wasn't going to be there, but they had to check everywhere. Emily released her weapon from her holster and made her way into the warehouse, following Dave. The rusted doors and really dirty floors gave her an idea of how long the places had been there; they walked inside carefully, and Dave kicked the door open…a few seconds later, they were greeted by the smell of decay and something else.

"What the hell is that!" Emily hissed, as they walked into the room and found the body remains. Emily could barely identify the remains as belonging to the victims before she was out the doors running as fast as she could.

"Emily…Emily, are you okay?" Dave asked, rushing after her?

Emily made it outside of the barn and emptied the contents of her stomach, unable to take the smell anymore, as tears rolled down her face; Dave came from behind her and placed his hand on her back.

"Are you alright?" He asked, concerned.

"I'm fine, I just don't know what happened." Emily responded, she had seen millions of bodies before in worse condition than that.

"You're shaking, are you sure you're okay?" Dave said, taking her hand.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Please call Hotch and tell him we found the bodies." Emily responded, walking toward the SUV.

Dave pulled out his phone calling Hotch, but his eyes remained on Emily…he knew something wasn't right.

The team managed to find the rest of the leads, and eventually they apprehended the unsub, with no more victims being harmed. Their job was finished after three days of intense work. They finally headed home tired and ready for their beds. Emily had been feeling a little unsteady the entire time, and JJ was worried about her.

"Are you sure you're okay, Emily, you look like you have seen a ghost." JJ told her, touching her arm tenderly and setting a mug of hot tea in front of her.

"I'm fine, stop worrying so much; I guess it's just the lack of sleep and stress. I'll be okay." Emily smiled quietly.

"Yeah, I guess it's a good thing we have the next three days off." JJ teased.

"I know, right, I really need a massage and a lot of sleep." Emily told her with a smile on her face; although her smile was there, something was on her mind, something that had been bugging her the entire time since she got sick at the warehouse.

"That sounds so amazing, but we have to do brunch this weekend, or we're going to piss off Penelope and trust me, you don't want to get her mad."

"Oh, I know." Emily chuckled, rolling her eyes.

"When they arrived back at Quantico, Emily was the first one out the door; they didn't have to turn in any paperwork for this case until next week, and she was grateful for that. She couldn't wait to get home; as she passed Beth's desk, she could feel the woman glaring at her, but she paid no attention to her and just continued on her way.

After she and Aaron broke up, she made a promise to herself that she wasn't going to let Beth or Aaron see any weakness, or that she was falling apart. She promised herself that she was going to walk with her head held high and be strong and overcome this, and that was just what she was going to do, only there was something on her mind right now, and she couldn't get the feeling in her stomach to go away.

She arrived home, took off her boots and immediately headed upstairs for her bathroom. She needed to take a long, hot shower and wash the smell of death and decay away from her nostrils that had stuck with her since walking into the warehouse. Emily had been trying to push away the thoughts that had been consuming her mind, but when she had to rush out of the shower in the middle of her bath and bend over the toilet emptying her stomach again, she knew she couldn't ignore it any longer. She returned to the shower and after finishing her shower, she sat at the end of the tub, tired and confused with tears threatening to fall from her eyes, she reached in one of the drawers and pulled out one box that she kept in the back. She had bought it about six months ago, and there was still one left. Emily took the plastic stick out and closed her eyes thinking this was the last thing she needed.

About ten minutes later, she returned to the bathroom; she had gone to make some hot tea and to calm herself from the panic attack she was about to have. She carefully picked the white stick up again, and her heart stopped when the two pink lines stared at her in response.

 _She was pregnant and Aaron was the father!_


	10. Chapter 10

Framed

Chapter 10: The True Colors of Life

Emily walked into the bullpen Monday morning very early; she hadn't told anyone yet about being pregnant, and she wasn't planning on telling anybody, but she knew she had to tell Aaron. She was ready for his response…she knew perfectly well what his response was going to be, but she still felt obligated to tell him, she knew she couldn't keep this from him. She placed her purse on her desk and focused on work the first part of the day. They had to finish paperwork and all the case files from their case in Montana, so everyone was quite behind, and little by little, the rest of the team began to arrive and sat at their respective desks to work on their paperwork.

"Good morning, princess." Derek said, placing a cup of hot tea in front of her.

"I noticed you weren't drinking coffee the last time, so I figured I'd shoot for hot tea this time." Derek smiled at her softly.

"Aww, Derek, you're such an angel, you know that?" Emily said, smiling at him, and just at that moment, Clyde stepped into the bullpen as well and leaned over to Emily to press a kiss on her cheek.

"How've you been, darlin'." He said with a sexy smile. "I figured I would come to say hello since you seem to have forgotten about me."

"Hey, stranger, no, I'm sorry, I've just been crazy busy." Emily smiled apologetically; although, they still talked almost every other day. After all, Clyde was her best friend.

"Hello, Easter." JJ smiled at him, as she walked in with Spencer.

"Hello, Jareau." They always teased each other around, it was kind of fun to watch.

"So, nothing to do upstairs at Counter Terrorism?" She asked, jokingly.

"No, not really, I figured why not come to torture the liaison for a bit." He responded in his sexy accent, winking and making Emily and Morgan smile. In that moment, Beth walked toward her desk.

"Will your busy schedule allow you to do lunch with me, love?" Clyde asked Emily, and everyone ignored Beth and focused on Emily.

"Um…sure, I have to finish my reports, but sure...I'll text you around lunchtime." She said, smiling at him.

"Great, let me know if you need help with anything." Clyde said, giving a nasty glare to Beth and walking away. Emily just rolled her eyes and laughed.

JJ, however, noticed that Beth was ogling Clyde, who was definitely very good looking, as he was walking out of the bullpen into the elevators, and she shook her head angrily.

"Don't worry, he's not into sluts." JJ said as she walked by Beth and made her way to her office. Beth just stood there looking at JJ, offended, but pretending she didn't listen to anything.

Emily roll her eyes and turned to look at Morgan and Spencer, who were both laughing and looking at Beth, totally entertained.

"You guys are totally in high school." She whispered, almost under her breath.

"Oh, come on, Em, she totally deserved that."

"Yeah, she totally did." Spencer agreed.

Later that night, once everyone had gone home, even Beth surprisingly, Emily finally made sure she finished her reports, and she nervously made her way to Aaron's office. She wasn't sure how she was going to do this, but she knew she had to. She knocked on his door and stepped inside.

"I just finished my work, and I wanted to give it to you before I left for the day." Emily said, clearing her throat and feeling a little shaky.

"Thanks, Prentiss, have a good night." Aaron responded without even looking up at her; Emily took a deep breath and tried to gain some courage.

"Aaron, may I talk to you for a second, please?" She asked firmly.

"I don't think there is anything we need to talk about." He said coldly and dismissively.

"Well, I'm sorry you feel that way, but I have something to tell you, and I would appreciate it if you would listen to me." She told him, without losing her courage.

"What do you need, Prentiss?" He barked. The use of "Prentiss" on his lips killed her, but it wasn't going to get her from the point she was trying to make.

"We need to talk, Aaron." She repeated even more firmly.

"No, we don't, say what you need to say; I have a lot of work to do, so hurry up please." He said rudely, Emily closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"I just found out that I am...I'm pregnant." She said in a shaky voice, looking down.

Aaron, however, didn't respond, he just stared at his files for a second, then he said in a cold tone, "What does that have to do with me?"

To Emily, the words felt like a knife stab in her chest, although she knew that the words were coming. "The baby is yours, Aaron." She said hurting, almost in a broken voice.

"Are you sure about that? Because if I remember correctly, you were messing around with another man while you were engaged to me!" Aaron bit back coldly, looking at her with hatred in his eyes, and Emily shook her head, as tears finally rolled down her cheeks.

"That's your prerogative." Emily responded, shaking her head while wiping her eyes and looking away.

"No, that's a fact, there are pictures proving your infidelity!" He responded, standing up from his desk and walking toward her angrily.

"Why don't you go to him…the father of that baby…and asked him to be responsible for him, because I'm not the father of that child. You are dead to me, I told you that before!" He told her again.

"I really hope you don't regret this, Aaron, I don't need you; I didn't come here because I needed you. I don't even want you in the life of the baby. I'm very capable of providing my child with everything he or she needs. I just thought that you deserved to know you're going to be a father. I really hope that when you realize the mistake you're making it's not too late, because I will tell my child the truth why you're not there for him." Saying those words, tears were running freely from her eyes, but she didn't care any more.

"I'm really happy all of this happened, you and Beth are made for each other. I'm happy to see you aren't the man I thought you were, and I'm happy to see I found this out before I made the worst mistake of my life by marrying you." After throwing those words at him, Emily fished into her purse and grabbed the engagement ring he had given about six months ago.

"I'm sure it would look great on her finger, and she won't mind a second-hand ring." With that, she walked out of his office, leaving him speechless.

Aaron stood there, still loving Emily more than anything, but he couldn't forgive what she had done to him; he couldn't forgive the fact she had cheated on him. And now, she was pregnant with her lover's baby, and she was going to be happy with him. But, what if the baby was his, what if there was a small possibility that the baby was his…no, it couldn't be, it had to be her lover's, she had cheated on him and who knows for how long…and maybe she had been cheating on him for a very long time, too. Aaron angrily banged his fist on the desk, crying...

"Damn you, Emily Prentiss, I hate you more than ever!"

Emily drove home with tears in her eyes, although she had expected this type of reaction from Aaron. It pained her so much to see that the man she had loved for two years was now showing who he really was. She couldn't believe he was doing this to her; she never would have imagined Aaron would turn his back on her like this, when she would need him the most. But right now, she had something more to worry about…for the past month, she had been very depressed and crying over Aaron and over their relationship, and she knew she couldn't do that anymore. She had a new life inside her, a tiny little baby to think about, she had to think about her baby before Aaron. Screw him, and screw that whore, she would focus on her baby from now on, even if she had to raise her baby for the rest of her life alone.

She walked into her apartment then took a long hot shower. She cuddled on the sofa and wrapped herself in a blanket to watch T.V. She slowly ran a hand over her flat stomach.

"It looks like it's just going to be you and me, angel." Emily whispered, as more tears rolled down her face.

"Don't worry, mommy will love you so much, you will see. You're going to mean everything to me, and you're going to be loved so much." She said sweetly, talking to the tiny little baby that was already growing inside her belly.


	11. Chapter 11

Framed

Chapter 11: The Dating Game

Aaron was in his living room one morning contemplating the beautiful sunny afternoon; it was a Sunday morning, and he had just gotten back from the gym. He had spent three hours in the gym blowing up self-esteem on the punching bag, trying to get over the fact that Emily was pregnant by her lover. He still couldn't believe she had cheated on him after they had been together for two years. Aaron simply couldn't believe that the woman he had loved the most in this world, even more so than Haley, had betrayed him like that. He just couldn't accept it from her, not from Emily, the woman who had shared his weakest moments, and who knew all his secrets. He would never forgive her for doing this to him; he hated her, more than he had hated anyone in this world, and he wanted to see her suffer the same way he was suffering right now. Maybe it was time for him to move on and start living his life. Maybe it was time for him to start messing around with every woman that he had the opportunity to mess around with, just so she could suffer the way he was suffering right now. He knew just how he was going to make her pay for what she had done to him. He grabbed his phone out of his pocket and dialed a number.

"Hey, Beth, this is Aaron, I hope I didn't interrupt anything."

"No, of course not, how are you doing this morning?" She responded, grinning.

"I'm okay, thanks, I was wondering if you're still open to a cup of coffee?" He asked.

"Well, of course, I'll never turn down a cup coffee with the sexiest man in the office." Beth responded, biting her lip.

"So, I'll pick you up around two?" Aaron grinned.

"Perfect." Aaron hung up with the same grin, knowing once and for all that he would get over Emily Prentiss.

In the meantime, Emily was spending time with Penelope and JJ; it was a beautiful day outside, of course, neither of the girls knew Emily was pregnant. She had kept it a secret from the team…she was only two months along, so far, and she knew she wouldn't be able to keep it a secret for much longer, but for now, she really didn't want anybody to know. She had considered her options, but she knew that no matter what happened, she would never have an abortion; she would have her baby, no matter what she had to do. Eventually, she knew the team would support her, but for now, she felt like she needed to keep it to herself at least for a couple more weeks.

The girls had gone for breakfast together and did a little bit of shopping for Henry; and now they were walked around the mall for little while. In reality, Emily didn't really didn't care, she just wanted to be with her friends, and as long as they kept her mind away from thinking about Aaron, she was going to be fine.

"Hey Em, whatever happened to you getting a cat?" Penelope said suddenly.

"Oh, yeah, that's true, maybe we should go buy one right now, there's a pet shop around here somewhere." JJ said. turning around to search.

"Oh no, no, no, thanks, ladies, but I don't need a cat." Emily said, shaking her head.

"Why not, you've been wanting a cat forever? Penelope said, looking at her.

"Yes, but not anymore."

"Since when?"

"Since...now?"

"Why?" Both friends asked at the same time, looking at her confused.

"Because cats carry a lot of diseases."

JJ burst into laughter, and Penelope looked at her, horrified.

"See, now, that is plain mean and awful to say because I have a cat...and...what the hell is wrong with you?"

"Okay, you're right, I'm sorry, PG, cats are awesome. I just can't afford to have a cat right now with the amount of time we travel and all, it's not fair to the cat." Emily said, looking at them.

The girls looked at each other, not believing a single word she was saying.

"Look, I just don't want a cat right now, can we just leave, please. I'm tired, and I really need coffee." Emily said, a little irritated.

"Fine, let's go." JJ said, eyeing her friend…something was up with her. "Are you sure you are okay?"

"I'm fine, JJ! Please just drop it!" Emily snapped, unintentionally, damn hormones.

"Okay, fine, relax! Geez!

"I think I need coffee, too." Penelope said, as they got into JJ's car.

The girls drove to their favorite coffee place in D.C., and by the time they drove there, Emily was in a better mood. They got out of the car, and JJ placed her arm around Emily, "I'm sorry, Jay, I don't know why the heck I'm so moody lately, maybe a cat would be a good idea, but not right now."

"I know Em, listen we're here for you, you do know that, right? For anything you need." JJ assured her.

"I know, and I love you for that." Emily smiled, pulling the blonde in for a hug.

"Come on, let's get you some caffeine before your grumpiness sets ups again." JJ teases.

"I think I want hot tea." Emily said, suddenly. JJ rolled her eyes.

"Fineeeee, let's just go in. 

"Oh, I want a mocha with no whip and nonfat milk and an extra shot." Penelope said, excited.

"Okay, see…this is why I don't take you ladies out." JJ said, rolling her eyes as they walked inside the coffee shop.

But, their mouths dropped opened as they were greeted with a scene none of them were expecting. Beth and Aaron were in there and their mouths were attached to each other. It was more like Aaron knew exactly when Emily and the girls visited the coffee shop every Sunday after they did brunch…one of the reasons he decided to take Beth there. As soon as he saw JJ's car pull in, he pulled Beth toward him and started kissing her; he knew Emily would see him. He knew perfectly well what he was doing, and he was doing it intentionally to hurt Emily; he didn't care for Beth, or had any kind of feelings for Beth, he just wanted to get back at Emily and hurt her the same way she had hurt him. As soon as the girls saw him, they stopped in their tracks. JJ turned to look at Emily, whose eyes had turned red, and the tears were evident.

"Let's go, okay?" JJ immediately took Emily out of the coffee shop, and Penelope followed them without saying anything. There weren't really any words for what they had just witnessed.

"Do you want us to stop anywhere else for coffee, sweetie?" Penelope asked, but Emily just shook her head…she didn't want the tears to fall, she kept them at bay until her eyes were burning. JJ drove back while she and Penelope exchanged uncomfortable looks. They were so angry at Hotch for what they had witnessed, they couldn't believe he was doing that to Emily.

"Do you want to go somewhere else, Em?" JJ asked, they knew they wanted to take Emily's mind away from what she had just witnessed.

"No, it's okay, I just want to go home." She said, looking out the window.

"Em, I don't think it's good idea. Why don't you come over and spend the night with us? We can drink and have a girl's night…do whatever...I don't want you to be alone."

"Yeah, sugarplum, fuck him, Emily, he's an asshole. We're here for you, honey." Penelope said, reaching over to take her hand, Emily smiled briefly at her.

"I'm fine, it's okay, he can be with whomever he wants, really girls...I'm okay." Her voice was flat, but she knew deep inside she was dying.

"We can go to the movies, or something?" Penelope suggested, they needed to just get Emily somewhere.

"No, I'm fine. Look, I know you're worried, but I'm fine. We broke up, and he is free to date whomever he wants, and that is him dating, so I'm fine." Emily responded with all the strength she had in her.

"Are you sure you just want to go home, honey." JJ asked, unsure.

"Yes, trust me, I'll be fine. I have some stuff to do anyway, but text me later, maybe we can do drinks." She gave them a brief smile as they parked outside of her condo.

They quickly got out of the car to give her a hug and begged her for at least twenty times to call them if she needed anything, or if she felt like talking, or if she needed any company, or if she wanted to go out, but she reassured them every single time that she was fine.

"Do you think she's okay?" Penelope asked, when they watched her go into her building.

"I don't really think so, but she is Emily; she's not going to show anything she is so good at hiding her feelings and that drives me crazy. We can't even be her friends when she needs us." JJ responded, worried, as she drove away, once she was sure Emily was safely inside her building.

"I can't believe Hotch would do something like that to her. I'm so angry, I don't think I want to ever speak to him in my life again." Penelope said, feeling tears of anger in her eyes.

"Trust me, you and me both. I should have kicked that bitch's ass when I had the chance." JJ said, angrily.

"We still can. I can mess up her record and make sure she is never able to get a job anywhere in the U.S." Penelope added, glaring at the window.

"What the fuck is Hotch thinking, seriously, I mean, did he ever even love Emily. or was it all a lie? He just jumps into this whore's arms like nothing...I'm never speaking to him again." JJ said, banging her fist on the steering wheel.

"You do you know we have to, right?" Penelope said, sadly.

"Yes, but only about work, and it doesn't mean we have to be nice to him, or her, that bitch, just messed with the wrong people…wait until the boys hear about this!"

"Oh, it's going to be a frenzy, we're going to make the bitch quit!" Penelope replied, with a grin.

When Emily stepped into her apartment and closed the door, she was happy to be away from everything else that was preventing her from shedding the tears that she desperately needed to, since she had stepped into the coffee shop. She walked into her bedroom and barely took off her shoes. She had sworn to herself she would not shed another tear over Aaron ever again, but this was too much; she got herself under her cover to hide from herself, and finally, only then she couldn't hold them back any longer, and tears finally came like a whirlwind. She curled into her pillows and hid under the blankets, crying, she couldn't believe what she had seen. She simply couldn't comprehend that the man she had loved more than anyone in this world, the man that was the father of the baby she was carrying now was doing this to her, and now he was making out openly with Beth for everyone to see and dating her; apparently, he had taken very seriously what Emily told him about giving her the ring, because he surely had moved on and very quickly, he was over her, he was over Emily already. The question was could Emily get over him, especially now that she was pregnant with his baby, and he was dating the woman that had ruined their relationship?


	12. Chapter 12

Framed

 _ **A/N Hello guys I am so sorry it took me so long for this update but there has been a lot going on. First of all I apologize for the long time it has taken me to finish this particular story. As many of you know I been very sick and under medication so is hard for me to focus witch the new medicine. Anyway I want to appreciate everyone that has taken time to review this story and support me, I am so sorry if I don't always reply to your reviews but as I say with my health situation is very hard for me to focus at times.**_

 _ **I want to really apologize since this chapter is not edited by a BETA, this has been going on for a while but I have finally decide to do the stories on my own, and I do no longer have a BETA. Since I didn't want to quit writing I decided to do my best and post like that, so I AM VERY SORRY about all the a grammatical errors that you might find in here.**_

 _ **If you know of anyone that is interested in being a BETA let me know.**_

 _ **Here we go thank you very much for your love an support.**_

Chapter 12: Falling Apart

For the following weeks, Emily tried to continue her life knowing that Aaron had moved on and was dating Beth, but it wasn't as easy as she thought it would be. She was falling apart inside every time she saw Beth, or Beth walked inside his office and leaned close to him to give him a cup of coffee, it made her sick. It was almost like they were deliberately parading their dating relationship in front of her to hurt her. She was devastated; she couldn't believe Aaron was doing this, especially in the office where everyone was watching, and the worst part was that no one knew that she was pregnant.

Emily had been losing a lot of weight and hadn't been taking care of herself the way she was supposed to. She knew she had to start to take care of herself better because of the baby, but she had been having a difficult time getting the proper amount of sleep, and she hadn't been able to eat much or keep food down over the past few weeks. That, adding to their crazy schedule, wasn't conducive to taking care of herself as she should, there was just too much going on. Emily was never known to be a health nut, but she had usually taken pretty good care of herself. She stepped into the elevator distractedly and took a deep breath ready to face them both again.

"Good morning, pretty lady." Dave said behind her. making her jump.

"Oh shit, you scared me. I didn't see you there." She said, surprised.

"Yeah, I see that you were too busy texting on your phone to see me walk in." He teased.

"Sorry, Dave." She leaned to give him a hug. "It has been a long day." She laughed again, nervously.

"Already? it's only 7:45 in the morning." Dave joked drily.

"Yeah, I think this is going to be one of those days."

"May I get you some coffee, at least?"

"No, thank you, I quit caffeine." Dave arched his eyebrows in shock.

"I think I heard wrong…did you just say that Emily Prentiss, the queen of caffeine, isn't going to?"

"Drink coffee anymore!" Emily finished, laughing.

"How come?" Dave asked, intrigued.

"I guess I'm just trying to relax more." She said, shrugging, but the elevator doors opened, and they stepped into the bullpen, Dave just smiled at her.

"Take care of yourself, will you, you've been losing a lot of weight; I'm concerned about you." He said kindly.

"I'm fine, Dave." She assured him. "Really, everything is fine." She added, when he gave her a skeptical look.

"I'm here for anything, honey."

"I know you are." Emily smiled; she had always seen Dave as a father figure, but she couldn't tell him about the pregnancy yet. They both made their way to their respective desks to start their days.

Emily sat at her desk and not long after, the rest of the team joined them. When Beth walked in, she came in smiling widely giving the team a look, setting her purse down. Beth's eyes darted to Derek smiling mischievously and sitting at her desk. Of course, he looked at her, confused for a second.

"Something you want to share with us, Beth?" Derek asked teasingly. It was always Derek's personality…he was always smiling and in a good mood; Emily, however, just sent a glare his way.

"As a matter of fact, I do. I just had the most amazing night of my life. Who would have thought that our boss could pull an all-nighter; I never imagined him being a beast on the sheets." Beth said evilly. Then, she turned to Emily and added, with poison on her eyes, "Of course, you would know that, right, Emily?" And with that, she stood up from her desk and walked towards the bathroom, leaving everyone aghast.

"Oh my God, I will fucking kill her." JJ barked angrily, but Emily turned to Derek with angry tears.

"This is all your fault, why the fuck do you have to talk to her after what she did to me, Morgan, and make jokes with her, seriously?" Emily snapped, standing up at her desk.

"Emily."

"Don't! I think you have already done enough." She said, walking away from them with tears in her eyes.

Derek stood there in shock watching Emily walk away through the doors, and then he turned to look at his friends.

"Okay, my sweet chocolate thunder, I hate to say this, but she is right." Penelope said sweetly, putting her hands on his arms.

"Are you serious!?" He asked, in shock.

"Derek, I love you, you know that I do, and you are an amazing person, but after what Beth and Hotch have done, I'm surprised you're even directing a word their way." Penelope said, with a sad smile.

"Penelope, I can't just not talk to them. This is our office, and we all have to be adults here." Morgan said, offended.

"That might be true about Hotch, but see what Beth just did right now, and after everything she has done to Em, come on, Derek...whose side are you on?" Penelope said mad, walking away still a little upset. JJ too rolled her eyes angrily and walked away as Spencer just shake his head and made his way to the conference room.

Derek exhaled, closing his eyes; deep inside, he knew the girls were right, although at the time, he felt like he was in high school again, and he hated that. He had been trying to act as normal as possible and not take sides on the situation. He was pissed as hell at Aaron, of course, but he was still trying to maintain a professional relationship with everyone at the office, including Beth, but maybe the girls where right, Beth was taking her game too far.

A few hours after that, the team was called out on a case in Louisiana; a seven-year-old girl had been kidnaped on her way home from school. They had immediately raised the amber alert, and the team made it there in record time. Additionally, two other girls had disappeared in the past two months from local neighborhoods; both girls had been found dead with signs of sexual abuse and rape. The team knew they were dealing with a sexual predator and stress was rising among the team. In addition to that, Beth made a serious mistake in showing the pictures of the other two girls to the parents of the current missing girl. This very bad mistake lead to a huge mess of hysteria and chaos and set up the possibility of another kidnapping of a young child. Since JJ was talking to the press, Emily had spent the last hour trying to calm the parents down and assure them the team would do the best they could to find their daughter alive.

"What the hell is wrong with you!?" Emily snapped at Beth the minute they were out of sight from the parents.

"I was just trying to help them." Beth responded hypocritically.

"Help them?! By showing them pictures of two dead girls who were raped and tortured? Are you insane? Emily barked.

"You know what, Emily, I have no idea what your problem is, but if this is about Aaron, I'm so sorry he left you for me, but it's not my fault that you're a slut." Beth said, glaring at her.

Emily never felt so angry in her life; she wanted to beat the shit out of Beth, worse…she wanted to rip her skin from her body; she had never, ever wanted to kill anyone, but right now, she wanted to kill the woman in front of her.

"You know what, this isn't about me or him, and you're right, I couldn't care less about that, given that fact that the only way you can get a man is pulling the scheme you did." Emily responded in and even tone, but in that moment, Aaron stepped into the office and watched both women glaring at each other.

"Is everything okay?" He asked, tensing up.

"No, everything is not okay." Emily responded, looking at him with hatred.

"Your girlfriend just showed the Collins's the pictures of the last two victims." Emily said angrily, shoving the pictures in his hands. Aaron took the pictures of the images closing his eyes…he was already pissed, and Emily knew it, she knew all of his expressions.

"Maybe, instead of staying up all night having sex, you should re-train your girlfriend on how to talk to victims in this type of case. She obviously has a lot to work on." With that, Emily walked out of the office leaving Aaron confused, looking at Beth speechless.

"What is she talking about?" Aaron asked Beth, with a harsh look. He knew they hadn't done anything besides the kiss at the coffee shop.

"How should I know, she's crazy, and you know it." Beth said, acting all innocent.

"Beth, you can't show these pictures of the victims to any of the other families, this only causes them distress and heartache, do you have any idea how reckless this is? His tone was angry now.

"I'm sorry, I was just trying to help." She replied.

"Stay here with Reid doing victimology." Aaron said, walking away angrily.

Dave had been close, listening to everything that was said, and he came to meet Aaron who just gave him a glare.

"Everything okay?"

"I'm not sure, Beth showed some pictures of our last victims to the Collins's"

"Yeah, she is reckless, stupid and negligent. Beth is a bad combination for this team." Dave said, and Aaron just looked at him in shock.

"What! I have said that for a very long time." But, Aaron just shook his head, walking away angrily. He knew the whole team was acting a little differently toward him, and it really bothered him that everyone was taking Emily's side.

By the end of the night they have managed to find Jacky Collins safe and put the unsub behind bars. It was almost midnight when they made it back to Quantico, and everyone rushed home immediately, even Aaron, claiming he had to be up early in the morning to see Jack. Emily, however, stayed behind a few minutes to avoid running into Beth and Aaron in the parking lot; Dave, of course, waited for her.

"Are you ready, kiddo?" He asked, making his way down the steps smiling at the brunette.

Emily, however, didn't respond. She placed a hand flat on her desk as she felt everything around her spinning around; she had been feeling very dizzy all day. But, ever since they got on the jet, it just got worse…then, she felt a sharp pain in her lower stomach.

"Emily, are you okay?"

"No, I'm..." She didn't finish the sentence before everything went black and she fainted, but Dave was fast enough to catch her before she hit the floor.

A few hours later David was waiting inside the room where Emily was sleeping on a bed at the hospital. She had and IV on her hand and she had been sleeping for about one hour. The doctors hadn't really tell him what was wrong with her since he they arrived at the emergency room in he was truly worried. He had no idea why she had fainted but she had noticed she had been losing a lot of weight, and he was hoping it wasn't something top bad. A few minutes later a very good-looking woman with curly hair walked in.

"Hello how are you doing this evening I am doctor Bowman..."-she greeted

"Good evening Doctor...I am David Rossi"

"Are you a relative..."-She asked since it was protocol

"She is my daughter..."-he responded without hesitation, the doctor just nodded smiling.

"Is everything okay with her..."-David asked worriedly

"She is fine... but...she has a severe case of anemia...I am very worried to be honest. If she doesn't take care if she is going to lose the baby..."-Doctor Bowman said looking at David seriously

"I am sorry what?"-He asked in shock looking at the sleeping brunette

"I take you weren't aware she was pregnant" –She smiled softly at him.

"Actually no I wasn't, honestly I don't even think she knows..."-He said looking at Emily again

"She knows..."-Doctor Bowman replied, but Dave look at her unsure

"There are traces or folic acid, Iron and calcium, and other vitamin nutrients on her blood work, often found on prenatal drugs, which indicates that she is aware of the pregnancy... however it is not enough for the baby to grow healthy. She can carry the pregnancy to full term if she is not taking care of her self..."- Doctor Bowman said worriedly

"I understand that, she has been under a lot of stress, but I promise you that I will watch after her and the baby...how far along is she...?"-David asked

"She is three months now which means the further along she is the more risk for her and the baby..."

"I understand..."

"I will come and speak to her when she wakes up...I gave her some vitamins trough the IV, and I am going to keep her a few days for observation, but once she leave the hospital is all up to her..."-Dr Bowman said with a sad Smile

'Thank you very much...I will take care of her and the baby..."-He vowed and watched the doctor walk away. His eyes went to the bed where Emily slept peacefully, the woman he saw like a daughter. He stood there looking at her and he felt immensely sad; he didn't know she was going trough so much alone and it make him so angry at Aaron. But he wasn't going to let her lose the baby no matter what he had to do.

A few hours later Emily finally woke up slowly and confused, her eyes landed on David sitting at the chair in front of her, she hardly remembered how she gotten there.

"What happened...?"-She asked confused

"You fainted back at the office..."-Dave replied coming to sit next at the edge of bed close to her taking her hand as her eyes closed again she could see in David's eyes that he knew the truth.

"Em...why didn't you tell me...?"-He asked softly

"I don't know, I didn't tell anyone...I just couldn't .."-Her eyes open again and Dave could see the tears, he slowly wiped her eyes

"Emily you are not alone in this...you have me and the whole team..."-he said sweetly

"He doesn't want anything to do with the baby Dave..."-she cried

"Is that why you aren't taking care of your self..., because of Aaron?"-David asked in shock

"No, of course no..."-She close her eyes again unable to stop the tears

"Emily you are going to lose the baby, I talked to the doctor she is very worried about you and the baby...I know you love Aaron but your baby should be important to you right now.."-Emily knew that of course she knew that

"I know that Dave, do you think I am trying to kill my baby...?"-She asked angrily

"No, Bella of course not, but you are letting his relationship with Beth affect you in a way that is not healthy for you or the baby..."-David said wiping her tears

"Aaron is a fucking asswhole, forget about him Em right now you need to focus on the baby and you... that is all... and I am here for you and baby"

"I know..."-she responded as tears rolled down her eyes again, her hand touching her still flat stomach, she knew she had been mourning for Aaron too long. But David was right if something happened to her baby she had nothing left. Fuck Beth and Aaron, she needed to focus on her baby and her self, she needed to forget about Aaron Hotchner once and for all and forget that he had ever existed. She will live the rest of her life only for her baby and that will be all, Aaron Hotchner was death for her from this moment forward.

 **So here we are! It is just going to get better don't forget to leave a review! Thanks for the love and support and again I am sorry about the grammatical errors since I am Beta-less again**

 **Leave a review please!**


	13. Chapter 13

Framed

Chapter 13: Someone Else is Taking Your Place

Dave knocked on the apartment door early in the morning; he had agreed to pick Emily up for breakfast. He had been watching her for the past three weeks ever since he had found out about her pregnancy. Since then, he had basically been looking after her, making sure she was eating right and taking care of herself. He had been very worried about her health and how she had been dealing with things after Aaron broke up with her. He had tried talking with Aaron after what happened with Emily at the doctor's office, but, as usual, Aaron refused to listen to anything Dave had to say, so, Dave decided to focus on Emily and the baby. Dave was sure that Aaron would be sorry for acting like this, and he would regret every single thing he did to Emily, but he wasn't going to try to talk to him anymore; he had tried too many times, and so had the rest of the team. Now, it was up to Aaron, but he didn't give a fuck anymore, in fact, he didn't recognize his best friend, the person he once thought was his best fried. From now on, he just needed to concentrate on Emily and the baby. After all, Aaron wasn't a kid anymore, and he could watch after his own ass. Dave waited until the door opened and a grumpy Emily, wearing a bathrobe, greeted him.

"Hey there, am I early?" He smiled when he realized she wasn't ready.

"No, you're not, I'm late. I have nothing to wear…" She cried annoyed.

"Doesn't every woman always say that?"

"No, I literally have nothing to wear, I'm fucking fat!" Emily said, as tears formed in her eyes. Dave just followed her upstairs into her bedroom where a pile of jeans and slacks was scattered over the floor and the bed.

"Sweetie, you aren't fat, you're pregnant." Dave said gently, looking at her.

"I can't find anything that fits, none of my pants close anymore." She said, irritated tears in her eyes.

"Okay, just relax, let me see." Dave stepped into her closet and grabbed a nice white dress with flowers.

"How about this, I think this would look nice on you, and it looks like it would fit."

"I look fat in that!" She responded angrily.

"Em, can you just try it on, please."

"Fine!" The brunette responded, taking the dress and walking into the bathroom; a few minutes later, she walked out. The dress looked amazing on her, she still had an amazing body with the baby bump clearly showing on her stomach.

"See, I look fat." She pointed toward her stomach.

"Emily, that is something amazing. You look beautiful, and wow! that baby bump!" Dave said, smiling, and Emily couldn't help but smile back.

"I guess it looks fine." She reached to touch her stomach, smiling, looking at herself in the mirror.

"You're going to be the most beautiful and amazing mother."

"I really hope so, I just want the best for my baby, you know?" Emily responded.

"I know, honey, come on, finish getting dressed, we can get you some maternity clothes after breakfast."

"Thanks, Dave."

"I'll be downstairs waiting." He said, walking out of the room and leaving her there to finish getting dressed.

Emily quickly finished getting dressed and put on some nice white sandals that looked very great with the dress. She quickly did her makeup and then headed downstairs where Dave was waiting for her.

After having breakfast, Dave took Emily to the mall to shop for maternity clothing, since he knew most of her clothes didn't fit anymore. They walked around the mall for a while, and Emily was smiling and happy, and she seemed to be more relaxed about everything. She still had not said anything to the team about the baby, but she was going to since she couldn't hide it anymore.

"Hey, Em, come here, I want to see something..." Dave said, pulling Emily into an expensive baby store.

"What?" She followed arching her eyebrows.

"I think I' am looking for a crib." Dave said, walking around the store.

"A crib for whom?"

"Who do you think for silly me?"

"Oh my God, Dave, no. you aren't buying me a crib!"

"Why not? You are technically like a daughter for me, and this little one is going to be my grandchild, so, yes, I' am buying a crib..." Dave said, smiling and pulling her into the furniture part. Emily's attention was quickly brought in to the many different sizes of cribs and bassinets, and she smiled widely.

"I really like this one." Dave said, and pointed to a dark cherry-stained oak wood crib set. It came with the dresser and a changing table, and could be turned into a youth bed when her baby was older.

"I actually like that one, too, but we don't know if it's a girl orf a boy, Dave."

"That' is okay, this color is beautiful, and it will go amazingly with blue or pink..." Dave said, looking at Emily; she just stood there looking at the crib with a wide smile. She actually loved the set… it was the perfect size and color.

"Come on, let's get it, and if you decided to change your mind, we can always return it, but we can at least get your head started on the nursery..."

"You do realize I still have one more month to find out what I' am having, right?..." She laughed.

"I know, but I can buy you neutral- colored things, and we have to start thinking about names and all that..."

Emily started laughing, and it made Dave so happy to see her smiling like that again, so, he finally convinced her to let him buy her the crib. Dave paid for the crib that was to be delivered to Emily's apartments in a few weeks.

He also got her a huge brown teddy bear that Emily feall in love with,; it didn't have an specific color, it just had a light-colored brown ribbon and a pacifier hanging from his neck. But, he had the sweetest face, and Emily couldn't resist him, so Dave ended up getting the teddy bear for her, thinking it would be a great addition to the nursery whether it was a boy or a girl.

They walked around the mall for a while longer just talking and laughing. Being with Dave and shopping with him, Emily felt more relaxed now. Dave was carrying their shopping bags, and Emily was carrying the teddy bear. They were unaware that just a few stores downby, Aaron was walking by with Jack holding his hand. , he stopped on his tracks when he saw the beautiful brunette wearing the white dress with flowers… the baby bump very evident. His eyes turned dark when he realized she was with his best friend in life and she was smiling. She seemed to be enjoying her self very much. He saw the huge teddy bear she was holding, it obviously was for the baby. Suddenly, he was mad _all the sudden what was Dave doing with Emily and why wasn't her lover with her_.

Aaron grabbed Jack who wasn't paying attention since he was eating his ice cream and he rushed him out of the mall. He was so angry he couldn't control himself, … _was Emily dating Dave now? He wouldn't do that to him, Dave wouldn't dare to do that to him, not with the woman he had been in love with the past two years, the woman he had been engaged to_.

"So, when are we going to tell the team?.." Dave asked Emily, as they walked to the car.

"Well, it's not like I can hide it any longer. This morning, I woke up and I had this huge belly, so I' will say probably soonest possible ."

"Why don't we invite them for dinner to your place tonight, we can tell them and have a nice time?.."

"Yeah, that' is a good idea, ...I like that.." Emily agreed, as she place their bags in Dave's trunk.

She quickly sent a text message to the team inviting them to dinner at her place. Since they were off for a few days, everyone agreed to meet to her place for dinner. Dave smiled at her and after the mall, they headed to the store to pick up a few steaks and some other items to make dinner that night.

Around eight that evening, the team started showing up at Emily's place, and Dave opened the door for them. Everyone was surprised to see that it was Dave greeting them and not her, but as usual, they were happy to be there;, Morgan brought beers, and Penelope brought dessert, and JJ brought on her side got some wine.

"So, where is Emily?..." Spencer asked, sitting in the kitchen island taking the beer Dave offered him.

"She is finishing getting ready, kid, she' willl be here in a few minutes.."

"Oh my Ggod, everything smells so amazing!..." Penelope said happily, pouring herself a glass of wine.

"Yeah, I know, I can never turn down dinner especially when Dave is cooking." JJ pointed out.

Just in that moment, Emily came down the stairs wearing a yellow dress, it was a little more tighter thant the one she had worn the morning, so her baby bump was more evident, but she had worne the dress intentionally for a reason.

"Hey guys, how' are you doing?"

"Wow, you look beautiful, Em?..." JJ pointed, looking at her speechless.

"Thank you." She smiled shyly.

"Oh my God, are...?" Penelope asked, in shock.

"Yes, I 'am pregnant..." Emily finished, laughing nervously.

"That' is why I asked you to come in tonight, guys; I obviously can't hide this little one any longer, so..."

"Oh, Emily, congratulations..." JJ pulled her in for a hug.

"Why didn't you say anything to us, Peaches?" Penelope said, reachinged for her.

"I don't really know, guys, this is still very hard for me..." She turned to look at all her friends.

"He' is the father, isn't he?..." Derek asked, coming to hug her.

"Yeah, he is..." Emily said sadly.

"Emily, you have all us for you and the baby, no matter what..."

"I know, Derek, thank you..."

"I' am so happy for you, Em, and I' am going to be the best uncle ever, I promise you."

" I know you will, Spence.." She laughed, hugging the genius.

"Emily, you have all of us, sweetie, and we will be here every step of the way for you and the baby..." JJ encouraged.

"I know, and you have no idea what this means, guys, thank you so much for being here..."

"How far along are you...?" Penelope asked excited.

"I' am almost four months.." Emily replied, finally excited.

"Oh God, I can't wait until she' is born!..." Penelope cried.

"Hey, I said nothing about my baby being a girl. "

"I really think it's going to be a girl… it has to be a girl!" Everyone laughed, as Emily placed her hand on her stomach; she didn't really care what she was having as longest it was a healthy baby.

She was over Aaron; she didn't care about him anymore, for the past three weeks she had done nothing but think about the safety of her baby. She had vowed that she would dedicate the rest of her life for her baby no matter what she had to do;, she didn't care if Aaron was happy with Beth, and he had hurt her… she just didn't care anymore. Life had set her a tramp for her, and she had fallen for it, and now she was paying the consequences for it, but she wasn't going to make her baby pay for it. She had realized that Aaron wasn't the man she had fallen in love with and after everything he had done to her the past few months, she had realized that he and Beth deserved each other. She even understood what had led Haley to cheat on him and divorce him in the first place. But, she wasn't going to let his mistakes and his selfishness hurt her baby; she would protect her child from Aaron and Beth, no matter what she had to do.


	14. Chapter 14

Framed

Chapter 14: Not So Over You

Aaron had been trying to get Emily out of his head ever since their relationship had ended. He would never be able to forgive her for cheating on him, of that he was sure; he had done everything he could to get over the brunette. He even used Beth to make Emily believe he had moved on, kissing her in front of Emily and the girls at the coffee shop that one time. But, that was all that had ever happened between him and Beth; he knew that Beth was telling everyone in the office they were already sleeping together and even staying at each other's places. That wasn't true, he had not even been out with her other than that one time at the coffee shop, and that was to make Emily jealous, and deep inside him, he deeply regretted it. A part of him didn't stop Beth from gossiping around the office because he wanted everyone to think he was happy and had moved on. Another part of him was furious with Beth for starting those rumors; there was just something about Beth he didn't really trust. She was reckless in the field, and she didn't make the best decisions, but there was something else about her that made him feel uncomfortable, a reason why he had not moved forward with her into a relationship or anything else.

But now, he was seriously considering his actions, Emily surely seemed to have moved on with her life; she seemed very comfortable around Dave all the time, and that was something that really hurt him. Dave was his best friend, or at least, he thought he was; he would never be able to forgive Dave if he started a relationship with the brunette even if they weren't together any longer.

He walked into the office early one morning and sat at his desk; he hadn't really interacted with his team much since the incident with Emily. The truth was the rest of the team only addressed him when there was a work-related issue, and that really hurt him…they used to be a family, all of them. Now, everyone had taken Emily's side, and she was the one who had cheated on him and had betrayed him, and he was the one who everyone hated…what was fair about that? He decided to focus on the cases he had in front of him and deal with the day he head ahead of him.

When Emily arrived to the office it was a little bit past eight; she sat at her desk smiling…she was in a great mood despite her morning sickness. Since she was the first one on the team to be there, she decided to quietly work on a pending case she had left the night before. She was sure they would be called soon to go on another case, and she didn't want to have any more accumulated work pending. She was quietly working when someone walked in behind her almost making her jump.

"Good morning, beautiful lady." She heard the British man greet her.

"Oh my God, Clyde." Her face lit up, and she stood up immediately wrapping her arms around her best friend. Clyde worked in the Counter Terrorism Section, but he had been gone for the past two months working on a secret project in Iraq. He now had a beard, and he obviously looked more tanned.

"Hello, darlin'." Clyde said, holding her close. Emily was one of his best friends, they had known each other for over a decade, since they had worked together at Interpol and the CIA.

"When did you get back?"

"My jet just landed, and I wanted to say 'hi' before I headed home. I need a shower and to polish up."

"I love the beard, you look amazing." She said laughingly. He really did, the British man was already handsome, the beard was just a sexy addition to his good looks.

"You think so?" He asked, arching his eyebrows smiling at his best friend.

"Yeah, I really do, you look very sexy."

"Are you hitting on me, Prentiss?" He teased, and Emily burst out laughing. It was then that Clyde was aware of the bump on her stomach.

"Oh, bloody hell, is that…?"

"Yeah, I wanted to tell you, but I didn't want to tell you over the phone." They had been talking on the phone every night for the past two months since he had been gone.

"Oh my darling, I am so happy for you!" He pulled her to him for a hug holding her close. They were unaware that Hotch was watching them from his office with a stern look on his face.

"Congratulations, love." Clyde knew Emily had always wanted to be a mother, and he didn't need to ask who the father was, or anything else, he knew Emily better than she knew herself.

"Thank you, I'm happy, too; I was very scared at first, but now, I'm very happy."

"Do you know what you're having yet?"

"No, I'll find out in a few weeks, but I honestly don't care..."

"It's a girl." Clyde said, looking at her stomach.

"What?" Emily asked, with a sparkle in her eyes.

"I just know it's a girl; trust me, and I'm the godfather, just so you know."

"Clyde, you're my best friend in the whole world, of course, you're going to be the godfather, silly."

"Great, so, hey, let me go home and clean up, and I'll take you out for dinner so we can catch up?"

"I'd love that, I've missed you so much."

"I've missed you, too, darlin'." He smiled, hugging her again.

"See you tonight then?"

"I can't wait!" He started walking away, but Emily stopped him.

"Hey, Easter, don't shave…I love the beard!" Emily said, winking at him.

"Whatever you want, love." Clyde said smiling, and heading toward the elevators.

Emily was about to sit down at her desk when Hotch came down from his office placing some of the files his team had turned in on her desk.

"So, are you dating Clyde now?" He asked boldly.

"Excuse me?" Emily asked, offended.

"I was just wondering, you just seem to be very comfortable around him."

"I'm sorry, but how is that your business?" She asked, looking at him angrily.

"It's not, but it will be against the fraternization rules of this institution." Emily laughed

sarcastically.

"Really? You're fucking Beth, and you want to talk about fraternization rules?"

"Emily, I…"

"No, you know what? You have no right to question me about my personal life, Aaron, especially after what you did."

"What I did? You cheated on me, and now you're going around sleeping with all these different men, and…" But he didn't finish, she slapped him hard across the face leaving a very red print mark on his face.

"Fuck you! I'm so done with your bullshit, I never cheated on you. I was set up by your tramp. Now, I know you are a fucking coward with no balls, but at least have the decency to respect me while we're at work." She walked away from him, shaking from how angry she was.

Aaron stood there speechless, as he watched the brunette walk away angrily, he knew he had crossed the line, but he couldn't control himself. He hated the fact that he still loved her, and he was so mad about the way Clyde had been talking to her. He still loved Emily, and he would probably always love her.

Emily walked into the bathroom closing her eyes while a few tears rolled down her eyes. She hated him so much. She didn't know how much longer she could work with him and his stupid bitch. She knew she had to be strong for her baby, she had promised her little angel she wasn't going to shed any more tears for Aaron Hotchner. She quickly wiped her eyes and washed her hands; she made sure her makeup wasn't messed up, and she made her way back to her desk. Hotch was back in his office, and Derek and Reid were already there, so she smiled feeling more confident, and she made her way to her desk.

When she arrived at her desk, she found a yellow and green gift bag there.

"What is this?" She asked, but the boys didn't answer…they just smiled at her. So, she proceeded to open the gift. Her face lit up, and any traces of her sour morning disappeared when she saw what was inside the bag. There was a pastel yellow giraffe baby blanket, a light brown bear romper with little bear ears and tail, and a small yellow stuffed duck. She knew the gift was from Derek and Spencer.

"Oh my God, guys, this so beautiful!" She said, with tears in her eyes. Morgan smiled and came around his desk to wrap the brunette in his arms.

"We didn't really know what you are having yet, so we wanted to get you a little something to start spoiling the little Prentiss growing in there." He said, touching her stomach making her smile.

"Thank you so much, I love it, all of it!"

"Spence, thank you." Emily said, walking toward the young profiler and pulling him to her for a hug.

"Of course, we just want to make you happy. We're here for you, Em."

"I know, guys, thank you, and I love you so much."

Emily sat back at her desk, pulling out the romper again; it was light brown and it looked so cute with the little ears. She smiled…whether she had a boy or a girl, her baby would look amazing in it, and she just couldn't wait to have her baby wear it. Without being able to stop herself, she put the romper against her stomach and she smiled deeply.

"What do you think, love?" She said softly, since the boys had left to get coffee.

"Uncle Spence and Uncle Derek got this for you, and they also got you a blanket and a little duck."

"I can't wait to have you in my arms, angel." She sighed, putting all her gifts away and smiled widely. In a few more weeks, she would find out the sex of her baby and would be able to buy him or her all kinds of things.

She had been wanting to get started on the nursery, but she wanted to find out what she was having before she did that. The crib Dave had bought her had arrived a few days before, and she was really excited about starting the room for her baby. The team told her they all wanted to help; the night she told them she was pregnant, they all offered to help her paint the room and decorate. She was really looking forward to it, and really wanted the team to help her. They were the closest thing she had to a family, and she wanted to share each moment of her pregnancy with them.

Around her break, she went for lunch, and she decided to make a call she had wanted to make for a very long time.

"Emily dear, this is a surprise." The ambassador greeted her as she answered the phone.

"Hello, mother."

"How are you doing, honey, it's been a while since I last talked to you."

"I know, mom, I'm sorry, I just...There has been a lot going on and…anyway, how are you?"

"I'm okay, dear, I just got back from Paris; I was actually wondering about calling you myself."

"Well, I guess smart minds think alike." Emily laughed nervously on the phone.

"Em, is everything okay?"

"Yeah, I just wanted to talk to you and tell you that I'm pregnant."

"Oh my God, honey!"

"Don't get too excited, mother, there's a lot more going on."

"Oh God, please don't scare me? Is it not Aaron's?"

"God, mother, what do you think I am, a whore? Of course, it's Aaron's!"

"I'm sorry, dear, you just sound very sad, I have a feeling something is wrong."

"Yeah, kind of, Aaron and I aren't together anymore, and he doesn't want to be a part of the baby's life."

"He what? Oh my God, Emily, I will kill him!"

"Mother, please calm down, okay? I'll tell you what happened, but I can't talk over the phone."

"I understand, what do you need, Em, I'm here for you? You know that, don't you?"

"Yes, I know, listen, we can meet for lunch, and I'll tell you everything, aright?"

"Of course, honey, Emily, God help me, I'll kill Aaron."

"Mom, please stop, I wasn't going to call you, because I didn't want to tell you what happened."

"Are you okay?"

"I am now, and I really want you to be there and go with me to find out the sex of the baby."

"Oh my God, dear? You're already that far along?" Elizabeth said, with tears in her eyes.

"I know, mom, I'm sorry, listen, I'll meet you for lunch tomorrow and will explain everything. I'm fine, I promise you."

"Okay, honey, I love you, Emily, just know that I am here for you."

"I know, mom, I love you, too. See you tomorrow." Emily hung up the phone with a small smile…she was ready to do this. She had been hesitant to call her mother about everything that had happened with Beth and Hotch because she didn't want to get her involved with any of this. But, she really wanted her by her side especially when she found out the sex of her baby.


	15. Chapter 15

Framed

Chapter 15: Like Mother Like Daughter

 ** _A/N Hello my lovely readers, sorry I haven't update in a while but it has been quite crazy. I started school again and it is ten times harder than I thought it would be. But since many of you have requested and update in this particular story here it is._**

 ** _Again for those of you who don't know it I am not longer working with a BETA so please be patient with the grammatical errors since you all know English isn't my first language. It would do my best to post as often but just be patient since I am now writing several stories at once._**

 ** _Love you all fbiloveemandhotch_**

Emily walked into the restaurant early the next morning; she looked around and found her mother siting at a booth near a nice long window. A big smile spread across her face, it wasn't that she was close to her mother; she just hadn't seen her in a long time. Right now seeing her mother was the only thing that made her feel safe and like she could trust someone again. She made her way to the table and Elizabeth stood up from her chair a soonest she saw her.

"Emily dear" she said enveloping her daughter in a hug, they had not seen each other in over a year.

"Mom" that was all Emily was able to say, tears welled up in her eyes and she just threw herself on into her mothers arms.

Elizabeth sensed her urgency and she could hear her daughter small sob scape from her mouth. She was no profiler, but she was her mother and she knew her daughter better than anyone else.

"Its okay sweetheart I am here" she held Emily really tightly and after a little while she finally let go of her. When they finally separated Emily's eyes were red and slightly moisten.

"You look so beautiful honey" Elizabeth said reaching to touch her baby bump.

"I am sorry I didn't say anything before" Emily apologized

"Its okay dear, sit down love let's talk" Elizabeth said gently. They sat down at the table and Elizabeth held on to Emily's hand gently. After the waiter took Emily's order they started chatting for a little bit to ease the tension.

"I need you not to freak about what I am going to say mom please" Emily asked sternly

"Em, you are scaring me dear"

"I am fine, just please promise me you aren't going to freak out and also" She held her hand out " I need you to promise you wont call Aaron or anyone at the Bureau"

"Emily!" Elizabeth said scared with wide eyes

"Mom please promise me"

"Okay fine I promise"

"Alright then" Emily said taking a deep breath " About four months ago or so I was drugged and I was framed by someone to make it look like I was cheating on Aaron"

"What?" Elizabeth almost screamed making a few near by tables turning to look at them

"Mom, it's okay just listen please!" Emily said squeezing her mom's hand to make her look at her.

"There is this girl at the office who has wanted to break us up for a long time now"

"They Agent you told me about? The one you guys were having issues getting along with" Elizabeth asked taking a sip of her coffee.

"Yeah Beth" Emily closed her eyes for a moment and she continued speaking. "She set me up and I felt for it" she said sadly looking into her mother's eyes

"What happened?"

"She um... she asked me to meet her for coffee" Emily said laughing sarcastically remembering that dark day "She told me she wanted us to be friends and try to get along for the Bureau's sake and for Aaron"

Elizabeth just let Emily talk, she didn't really like where this was going but she wanted Emily to open up to her.

"We went to have coffee, and the next morning I woke up in a random hotel naked and I had idea what had happen I can't really remember anything" Emily finished with a broken voice.

"Oh my god dear" the ambassador grabbed both of her hands and she closed both of her eyes terrified

"They didn't do anything to me other than drug me mom its okay" Emily said as she wiped the tears from her eyes

"I was terrified and scared, I called Clyde and David and they took me into a clinic, and the doctors said there were no signs of rape"

"Jesus Emily why didn't you call me?" Elizabeth asked almost angrily

"I didn't want to worry you mom, at least not until I knew why I had been drugged. Anyway I went home but I was so scared to call Aaron, I just couldn't tell him that I had woken up in some random motel with no clothes and with no recollection of what happened the night before"

"What happened after that?" Elizabeth asked sadly looking at her daughter with horror

"He came to see me that night. Someone had sent him an envelope with pictures of me in bed with some guy. That was why they drugged me"

"Oh honey" Elizabeth reached for her face to wipe the tear that was rolling down her cheek. She was so mad about what she was hearing; she wished she could have learned about this before. She could have helped Emily somehow, do something for her.

"Emily you could have called me! I could have done something" Elizabeth insisted

"No mom it doesn't matter Aaron thinks I cheated on him so we broke up"

"You are kidding right? He believes this? How could be so stupid?

"It's very complicated but yeah, until today he is convinced I cheated on him"

"That is why he doesn't want to be a part of the baby's life? Because he doesn't think is his?

"Yeah pretty much"

"I can talk to him Emily, I can get some sense into that stupid head of his. I mean how can he do this to you. How can be so obtuse "

"No mom please, you promised you wont do anything, and honestly you wont talking to him wont make a difference I don't want to be with him anymore. Not after seeing the real him, the person he really is "

"And what about this woman? The one that set you up?"

"We cant really prove she did anything mom, I mean we know she did it but we have no way to charge her with anything"

"So am I just supposed to sit here and do nothing? While I watch my daughter's life being torn apart" Elizabeth said with tears on her eyes

"No mom, you are here for me, for the baby. The past is on the past, I know you are upset and I am too, but we can't do anything about that. Right now all we can do is focus on the present and well the future" Emily said with a small smile placing her hand on her baby bump, gaining a smile from her mother

"You are going to be an amazing mother dear" Elizabeth said placing her hand on the top of Emily's that rested on her baby bump.

"I don't think so I am so terrified" she finally said with a nervous laugh.

"Oh honey don't be you have always been so good at everything you do, I am sure being a mother will be the same thing"

"I don't know mom, I am so scared, I feel like I am going to screw up my child"

"You know I felt exactly the same way when I was pregnant with you" Elizabeth sweetly "And look at you, a successful beautiful woman" Emily smiled as another tear rolled down her eyes

"Do you have any pictures of back then? When you were pregnant?" She asked curiously changing the subject and trying to relax a little bit.

"Yeah I do, I have tons of pictures somewhere in the house. Some of your baby pictures are missing because _someone_ decided to burn them when she was eight" Elizabeth said with a scoff

"Oh my god! I didn't not" Emily said incredulously

"Yes you did. When you were eight, and one day you decided you had particular big head as a baby so I found you burning all your baby pictures" Elizabeth said shaking her head in amusement

"Wow! Why do I have no recollection of this?" Emily laughed

"You know is funny how you never remember any of your mischiefs" The ambassador said with a stifled laugh.

"I miss you a lot mom" Emily admitted

"I miss you too dear"

"So when are we finding out what my grandchild sex is?" She asked happily

"Next week I have an appointment on Wednesday at 11am, but I can change it if you that time doesn't work for you"

"No dear, Wednesday is perfect, I am not in any assignments right now I completely free"

"Good Wednesday then" Emily smiled sipping on her tea.

Wednesday morning Elizabeth Prentiss picked Emily up around nine, she wanted to go for breakfast before the appointment but it turned out that Emily wasn't feeling too good. Even thought she was in her fight month of pregnancy, the nausea was still pretty bad, some times she really wished she could pop the baby out already.

"Does this happen the whole nine months of the pregnancy" She asked as she came out of the bathroom and her mother handed her a glass of ginger ale.

"Not really dear, it depends on every woman" Elizabeth said kindly " I never really had any nausea with you at all"

"Really?" Emily asked arching her browns and drinking some of the ginger all

"Yeah, on the other hand you punched my stomach like you were a soccer player every single second" Elizabeth said with a smirk making Emily laugh

"I did not"

"Oh yeah dear, you were so restless, you never stop moving inside there it was almost as if you were having a party on my belly 24/7" The ambassador said siting down on Emily's couch for a second. Emily joined her with a huge smile on her face, she had never heard this part of her childhood and it was pretty nice to hear specially now that she was pregnant.

"I can't really feel the baby move a lot yet" she said exhaling feeling nostalgic.

"You will, over the next few weeks is going to start happening" her mother said smiling kindly at her.

"I can't wait, I have to admit that I was scare at first but now...I am so excited... this baby is going to be mine... he or she will be my everything..."

"I think is going to be a beautiful girl" the ambassador said all of the sudden

"Why do you say that?" Emily asked curiously

"I can see it" her mother responded

"Clyde feels the same way..." she admitted smiling

"Well, what do you want to have dear?"

"Honestly I don't care as longest he or she is healthy...I mean a girl would be nice but I really don't care, you know how much I wanted a baby mom"

"I know dear, well lets go and find out" she urged "We need to get started on the nursery I want my grandchild to have a proper nursery and please Emily let me buy all the essentials"

"Mother, please don't start" Emily rolled her eyes

"Emily this is going to be my first grandchild, I have to make sure she gets the best"

"She?" Emily laughed as they approached the parking lot

"I really want to help you with nursery and painting everything" Elizabeth said looking at her as she drove to the clinic.

"That would be amazing mom, I haven't really started because I wanted to wait to find out the sex of the baby, but I want to get the nursery started too" She admitted with a smile on her face.

"Well let's go find out if I need to be shopping for pink or for blue"

An hour later Emily was laying on the table at her Doctor's office. She was a little nervous but her mother was by her side. She had been assigned to new doctor and she really like her. She was feeling a lot better now and she was exited about today's appointment.

"Hello Emily, how are you feeling today" Doctor Bowman asked when she walked inside the room.

"I am feeling a lot better, thank you"

"Good, I see that your weight is a lot better. Is not where we want it to be yet, but it is so much better than last time"

"Last time?" The ambassador questioned with worried eyes

"Sorry Doctor Bowman this is my mother Elizabeth Prentiss" Emily said politely

"Ambassador Elizabeth Prentiss" she corrected and the doctor just smiled shaking her hand

"Nice to meet you Ma'am, and I am so glad you are here with Emily"

"Well I am glad to be here, now, what were you saying about her weight?"

"Mom please"

"Well there was situating with her weight for the past month, she still slightly anemic but nothing to concerning" The doctor clarified

"Is the baby okay?"

"Yes the baby is fine, and she has been taking vitamins and other nutrients. She is in very good hands Ma'am you don't have to worry" the doctor reassured her

"Well oaky then" the ambassador said but she didn't seem to convicted, Emily just rolled her eyes

"So Emily, we are going to continue giving you the vitamins and just work on getting back to your normal weight okay?"

"Yes doctor Bowman I understand"

"Good, now I hope you are ready to find out the sex of this little one"

"Yes I am ready" she smiled and she reached for her mother's hand

A few minutes later she was watching at the screen monitor, while the doctor softly ran the transducer against her stomach. It took a while for the baby to allowed them to be seen but it finally moved into a position that it was a perfect angle for the doctor to show Emily.

"See right there..." She pointed to the screen

"That means she is girl" the doctor added showing the blurry image in between her baby's legs.

"A girl?" she repeated with tears on her eyes

"Yes congratulations Emily is a baby girl" Doctor Bowman said

Emily turned to her mother with tears on her eyes

"It looks like you and Clyde were right"

"A little Emily" Her mother said leaning down to kiss her daughter's for head.

Later that afternoon Emily and her mother walked back into the apartment with a bunch of bags. Many of them from very expensive baby stores, Elizabeth had insisted on buying her granddaughter a few outfits and they had end up leaving the stores with six or eight bags. They also had some paint for the nursery and some decals, Elizabeth had promised Emily she was going to help her start in the nursery soon.

"I am kind of hungry, do you want to stay and I can order something in?" Emily asked as she came downstairs again. She had changed into confortable pajamas and shirt.

"Sure I would stay, but let me cook for you. I don't think ordering in is healthy for you or my granddaughter"

"Do you even know ho to cook mother?"

"Emily I might be an ambassador but I was a wife once just so you know" She said offended and Emily laughed

"Right sorry I forgot, what are you making?"

"Pasta, you have some shrimp on the freezer, I also found basil and tomatoes. I can make a pretty good pasta with that" the ambassador responded as she moved around the kitchen.

Emily looked at her mother speechless

"What dear?"

"Nothing I just never really saw this domestic side of you I kind of love it" the ambassador just rolled her eyes.

"Emily dear I want to talk to you about something"

"Okay" Emily said looking at her mother unsure

"Now this is just a proposal you don't have to take it just think about it okay?"

"All right tell me"

"Well I was thinking when the baby comes you are going to need more space. I know you love this loft but it only has two bedrooms and is barely big enough for you and my granddaughter" Elizabeth said as she put the pasta to cook, Emily was sitting at the kitchen island looking at her mother without knowing what to say

"You always like the idea of having a guest room and extra space, I fell like this place is rather small"

"I know, I was thinking to move after the baby was born, well not right away but when she is maybe a little older, when she turns one or something" Emily responded looking around the apartment that brought her so much memories

"Well I was thinking you could move now into one of my properties. The one in Southbridge"

"Are you serious?" Emily asked speechless

"Of course I am Emily, the condo would be five minutes away from Quantico and it would be big enough for you and my granddaughter"

"Mom that place is huge" Emily said looking at her mother in shock

"Is really not Em, is only a four bedroom condo" Elizabeth responded pulling out a pan to cook the shrimp " You can keep the master bedroom for you, and use one of the room's for the nursery. You can still have your guest room as you always wanted, and you will have a extra room to make your study or small office I don't know whatever you want"

"Mom you can't just give me a condo this is crazy"

"Why? You are my daughter and you are going to have a baby, I want you and my grandchild to live in a proper safe place"

"Yeah I understand that but"

"But that Emily?" The ambassador questioned, "I know you like to be independent and do things on your own, but this is different, your father would have wanted you to keep it"

Emily looked at her mother for a second she was speechless and she didn't know what to say.

"Do it for the baby, don't do it for me, after everything you have lived. This would be a fresh start for you and her"

Emily nodded her mother was right, this place only brought her bad memories of Aaron and everything negative on her past. She really did wanted to move and start from zero with her and the baby in a new place where she didn't have to think about Aaron at all.

"What about the paint and everything we just got?"

"Well silly you are still going to need that, the nursery still needs to be painted at the condo down there"

"Mom I don't know"

"Please Em, let me do this for you and my granddaughter. Plus you are going to need to save all your money for diapers and a college fund, and trust me Yale isn't cheap" she said rolling her eyes making Emily smile.

"How am I going to move in the middle of this craziness?"

"Well lucky for you, I am an ambassador without an assignment for the next few weeks. We can make it happen, plus you need space for me when I come to visit my granddaughter"

Emily sighed, her mother was right; her place was small enough as it was. When her daughter was born things will change and she will no longer have a guest room and the proper space to fit her office and everything she needed. She did needed a bigger place for her and the baby, maybe moving into her mother's condo wasn't such a bad idea, she could save up some money and take her maternity leave without any worries of any kind.

"Okay only with one condition"

"What is it?" The ambassador said

"That you help me with the baby when I have to go back to work, I don't think I can trust anyone to leave my daughter with" Emily said taking her mother's hand "I will also need help when she is born since I have no idea what I will be doing"

"Of course Emily, I would love to stay with my granddaughter"

"We will start moving you in the next couple of weeks and everything will work out just fine"

"Okay thank you so much mom, I love you so much" Emily said pulling her mother for a

hug

"I love you too dear"

"Now lets talk about something important, have you picked a name for my granddaughter yet?" The ambassador questioned

"Oh dear, I only just found out she is a girl this morning. Can I catch a break?" Emily laughed

"Well lucky for you, I had a feeling that was going to be the case so" the ambassador said reaching into her purse and pulling out a baby name book, and handing it to Emily.

"Oh my god no way!" Emily squealed, "Let me see that" she didn't remember feeling this happy in a very long time.

The ambassador came to sit next to her at the island as Emily scanned trough the book with a huge smile on her face.

"Okay let's see" Emily said flipping the pages into the girl's name section

"Abigail?" both women turned to look at each other with a disapproval face.

"NO!" the said at the unison and bursting out laughing

Emily keep reading the names out loud gaining some disapproval faces from the ambassador and even some giggles. The truth was she was so happy to have her mother by her side specially when she needed her the most.


	16. Chapter 16

Framed

Chapter 16: Nothing Like Family

"How about Sophie?" The English man said, as he sipped on his wine.

"I don't know...I just don't feel it." Emily responded, looking at him unsure.

"You don't feel what?" Clyde asked confused as he read trough the baby name book.

"The tingle." Emily said looking at him like it was obviously

"What tingle?" Clyde arched his brows.

"I'm supposed to feel a tingle when we pick the right name."

"Uhhhh, yeah, I think you've been drinking way too much caffeine." He said teasingly.

"I haven't had any caffeine in six months!" Emily protested, slapping his arm playfully.

"Then you need some caffeine."

"Clyde, I'm serious!"

"Okay, fine, Sophie no tingle." He said laughing, and Emily slapped his arm again.

"Isabella?"

"I don't know." She replied, unsure.

"Victoria."

"Mmm no, I don't like that name."

"My Lord, Emily, we have read this book back and forth like three times. Can you pick a name for the love of God!" Clyde said, exasperated.

"Hey, it's not that easy, okay? This is the most important decision of my life."

"I know, but you are making it more difficult than it should be."

"You know what, I don't want to talk about names anymore." Emily said, annoyed.

"Fine." Clyde responded, tossing the book aside, rolling his eyes. They had been at the restaurant for three hours now, and as much as he loved the brunette, she was starting to get on his nerves.

"I think I want dessert." Emily said, picking up the menu and looking through it. Clyde just chuckled at the seven-and-a-half month pregnant brunette.

"Darling, you always want dessert!" Clyde said laughing, but Emily just stuck out her tongue and kept glancing through the menu.

They were having dinner at a nice restaurant; they hadn't had a chance to talk much, but tonight, Clyde had taken Emily out for dinner to distract her from their busy schedule.

"Are you sure I can come to the baby shower?" He questioned when the server had left their chocolate cake.

"Of course you can, Derek and Spencer are coming, and so is Dave, you have to come." Emily demanded.

"Aren't baby showers supposed to be for women only anyway?" Clyde asked, laughing.

"In theory, but not this one. I want all my family there, and you are the godfather, Easter, you'd better be there, or else." Emily said, warning him.

"Okay, I'm kidding, I'll be there." He smiled at his best friend as she rubbed her huge belly.

It was impossible to believe she was almost eight months pregnant; time had flown and she looked more beautiful than ever. She had already moved into her mother's condo with the help of Clyde and Dave. The nursery was basically set up; Emily and her mother had chosen a light pink and gray for colors in the nursery. The colors weren't too bright, and it wasn't the typical girl colors everyone chose. The big dark chocolate crib and bedroom set that Dave had bought Emily was already set up and ready for her baby girl's arrival. She had already received tons of gifts from the team, but mostly, the room was filled with things the ambassador had bought for her. Her mother had even gotten her the most beautiful and elegant English pram Emily had ever seen. She was excited for the arrival of her daughter, so much so that she had hardly focused on Aaron…the truth was she wasn't sure she even cared about him anymore, or if she had even loved him in the first place.

Beth and he were living together, or at least that is what everyone in the office was lead to believe and rumors were abounding. Emily thought it would actually hurt her, but she was surprised to realize it didn't. She didn't even care about him anymore; she was so focused on the birth of her daughter that she had gotten Aaron out of her heart for the time being. Penelope and JJ were supposed to throw her a baby shower that weekend, and she was more excited about that than anything else. It was going to be a time where her entire family was going to gather together and spend time together, and she was really looking forward to that.

Saturday morning, the day of the baby shower, Emily woke up earlier than usual because the baby was moving around and kicking a lot. She sat up on the bed rubbing her stomach and grimacing at the pain feeling her daughter kick so much.

"You aren't going to let mommy sleep anymore today are you, love bug?" She pressed her hand on her round belly feeling her daughter kick again exactly where she had placed her hand. Emily laughed, it was the best feeling in the world…feeling her baby move inside her.

"Okay, love, then let's get up and go to your special party." Emily said gently.

After she got out of the shower, Emily dressed in a pink sundress Penelope had bought her especially for the baby shower. She had never really worn pink, it wasn't really one of her favorite colors, but the girls had insisted she should wear pink for the baby shower. So, against her own desires, she put the dress on along with a pair of nice pink sandals. After she was finished with her makeup, she made her way downstairs to make herself a cup of hot tea and to relax for a bit.

She was on her way downstairs when the doorbell rang; Emily smiled, not surprised at the early visitor. She looked through the peephole and laughed, shaking her head.

"You know you have your own key to the apartment, you don't have to knock." Emily smiled as she greeted her mother.

"Nonsense, this is your house now, and I'm a regular guest." Elizabeth said, stepping through the door.

"Now, let me look at you." She said, pulling Emily in for a warm hug.

"Dear, you look beautiful!" Her mother said, as she looked at her in the pink sundress.

"I think I look like a big pink balloon."

"Oh please, don't start! You're pregnant, and you look beautiful." Her mother replied, rolling her eyes making Emily smile.

"Now, are we ready to go?"

"Yeah, I think so; I just have to stop at the office to get something I forgot for the baby shower." Emily replied, checking around.

"What can you possible need from the office, dear?"

"Some thank you cards I got for everyone on the team…I need them, please." She plead to her mother.

"Okay, fine, let's hurry up if we don't want to upset your friend Penelope." The ambassador said as she rushed Emily out of the house.

The drive back to the office was very quick and easy. Emily asked the ambassador to wait for her in the car since she was going to be inside for just a few seconds. She made her way through the elevators and through the glass doors. She was very surprised to see Beth in the office on a Saturday. Beth was never the type of agent that would work on a Saturday to take care of reports or anything like that. Emily took a deep breath and made her way to her desk reaching for the thank you note cards she had previously made for everyone on the team. She wanted to be out of there as soon as possible.

"Emily, wow, I wasn't expecting to see you here on a Saturday." Beth said, smiling at her hypocritically.

"I needed to pick up some stuff I forgot." Emily said dismissively, as she placed the note cards in her purse.

"Wow, you look very nice, pregnancy definitely fits you well." Beth said, looking at her evilly.

"Thank you." Emily replied drily; Beth was the last person in the world she wanted to talk with.

"You know, I want to have kids, too, well, Aaron and I want to have kids after the wedding and all." Beth said, with a devious smile. Emily just looked at her confused…what the hell was she talking about.

"Oh, don't you know? Aaron asked me to marry him!" Beth said, showing her the ring she was wearing. Emily felt her heart break again in a million pieces, but she kept her cool façade.

"Well, congratulations, I hope you can make him happy, although I really doubt it." With that, Emily marched out of the doors without looking back, or saying anything else to Beth.

She reached the elevator unable to believe that Aaron had actually proposed to Beth; she couldn't believe that he was doing this. She closed her eyes to keep the tears from falling, and she made her way back to her mother's car. She promised that she wasn't going to let anything ruin her baby shower and her baby's special day. Not even Aaron Hotchner…he was dead to her, and if he wanted to marry Beth, then he could go ahead and do it. She didn't care anymore…she had her baby girl, and that was all she needed. She reached the car and slid in trying to remain calm and not cry in front of her mother.

"Are you okay dear?" Her mother asked, looking at her.

"Yeah, I'm fine, let's go." She smiled, blinking her tears away.

When they arrived at JJ's apartment, everyone was already there, and the place looked beautiful. The girls had done an extraordinary job decorating JJ's house and making sure this was the best baby shower ever.

"Oh my God, everything looks so pretty and look at all the food and desserts." Emily said, looking around unable to fight the tears in her eyes.

"Oh, come on, no tears; we just want the best for our mini-Emily." Penelope said, enveloping Emily in a hug.

"You guys are awesome, and I love you so much." Emily said, hugging the technical analyst.

"We love you, too, gumdrop, and your little peanut too." She said, reaching to rub her baby bump.

The party started and everyone was having a great time, even the ambassador who normally was very serious and straight faced. Emily was so grateful to have so many friends that cared for her and were showing her how much they loved her and her baby girl. Dave approached her and sat next to her when everyone else was distracted.

"Are you okay, kiddo? You seem to be off?'

"I'm tired, I think; this one is moving a lot lately so I'm hardly getting any sleep." She laughed as she rubbed her rounded belly.

"You should know better than to lie to a profiler." Dave said, looking at her intently.

Emily exhaled looking away to where JJ was playing with Henry, and Spencer and Morgan was laughing about something with Penelope.

"He's getting married." Emily finally said, sadly.

"Aaron?" Dave asked, confused.

"I ran into Beth this morning, she told me they are engaged…she even showed me a ring."

"You know, Emily, I wouldn't trust Beth very much; I'm not even sure there has ever been a thing between them." Dave said, looking at her and reaching for her hand.

"Beth is a very sick and disturbed person. It would really surprise me if Aaron actually decided to marry someone like her." Dave said kindly.

"But, even if he did, you don't need him, kiddo; he has already shown you he is not the man you deserve. You don't need that in your life, you have me and the rest of the team." Dave said, pulling her in for a hug.

"I know, Dave, thank you so much." Emily replied, fighting back her tears.

After they played some games and they had dinner, Penelope announced that it was time to open all the gifts. Of course, there were more gifts than Emily had ever imagined in her life. She was sure her daughter would have clothes and toys for the next two years of her life. She already had a room full of things for the baby, and this was going to be about another room full of gifts.

"Guys, thank you so much, I really have no words...I love you all so much, and you have no idea how much it means that you are all here for me." She said as a few tears filled her eyes.

"From the moment I knew I was pregnant, I was terrified, but having you all by my side it has been so much easier." She said, looking at all of her friends.

"So, I have a few thank you cards for you guys, and there is a little present inside for each and everyone of you." Emily said, standing up from the couch and handing a card to everyone, even her mother.

"What? We aren't supposed to get gifts…it's your baby shower!" Spencer protested, and Emily just laughed, ruffling his hair.

"I have a couple more things I need to tell you guys." She said, sitting back on the couch.

"As you know, my godmothers are going to be Pen and JJ." She said, looking at her best friends. "It's your job to watch after my little one." Both Penelope and JJ smiled with tears in their eyes.

"Of course, Em, it's such an honor." JJ said.

"I will protect that little peanut with my own life." Penelope said beaming proudly

"I also asked Clyde to be the godfather." She turned to Clyde squeezing his hand, "But since I'm going to have two godmothers, I figure it was just fair to have two godfathers as well, so…" She turned to her other side. "Dave, will you do me the honor?"

"I will be such a pleasure, Bella." Dave smiled gratefully, as everyone clapped.

"And…one more thing." Emily said, getting everyone's attention back.

"I have finally decided on a name." She said, smiling at their friends.

"Well, my mother had mentioned her favorite name was Grace, and that it was one of the names she was going to name me." Emily said, smiling softly.

"Oh dear." The ambassador said, as tears filled her eyes.

"So, I chose Grace as her first name to honor my mother, and I also found a name in honor of her godfather." She turned to look at Dave.

"Dave, I'm not sure how I would have done all of this without all your support and without you being there for me every step of the way." Emily said, looking at him.

"You know you're like a father to me, and I wanted my daughter to be named after you. Since Dave is not really a girl's name, I found a name that can be used in your honor and it will be a great combination with Grace." Emily said, with sparkling eyes.

"What's the name?" Derek asked, curiously.

"Rosslyn." Emily responded with a smile.

"Oh my God, that is gorgeous." JJ cried.

"So, Grace Rosslyn Prentiss." Emily said, finally looking at all of her friends who were now overjoyed.

Dave stood up from his seat and enveloped Emily in a big hug.

"I love you so much, kiddo, and this is such an honor."

"Thanks, Dave, for everything." Emily said, holding him close.

"Okay, guys, we should do a toast." Penelope suggested, as she gave everyone champagne except for Emily, who got cider.

"For this family and this time, so we can always remain together."

"Hear, hear." Everyone said.

"And finally, for the most beautiful baby girl in the world."

"For Grace Rosslyn Prentiss." Everyone said in unison.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Taking a chance

Emily and Derek were walking around the mall because Derek had insisted he wanted to buy a few things for Grace, as if everything that Emily had received from the baby shower was not enough. She was absolutely sure Grace would never need clothes or diapers for the next two years of her life. Over the past few weeks, Emily had realized the most important thing in her life was now her baby girl. Grace was her only reason to live, and as much as she loved Aaron, she had another priority now. Even if she had to raise her daughter alone, she was not afraid now. She had the whole team and her mother to support her; their relationship had changed over the past few months. Now, they were closer, and the ambassador had been there for her when she needed her the most. Emily realized how much she loved her mother even if they had gone through a rough childhood. Maybe it was the fact that she was becoming a mother herself, but she realized she needed her mother more than ever.

"I don't know princess, I think you owe me big. You have ditched me for the past few months for the shooting range...that ain't cool at all." Morgan stated with a grin on his face.

"Derek, in case you hadn't noticed, I'm eight months pregnant." She said as she rolled her eyes.

"Oh, is that what that is? I thought you were just getting fat and…" He was not able to continue as she punched him playfully on the arm.

"Ouch! You can be mean sometimes, Em!" He smiled and jumped away from her.

"You are lucky I don't have my gun with me." She teased and he laughed.

"You know, I really hope mini Emily does not inherit your temper." He shot back grinning and earning another punch from her making both laugh.

"Fine, simmer down, woman"

They kept walking around the crowded mall…it was a weekend, and it was full of families and noise. Emily was happy to get out of the house and enjoy her time with her best friend. She was not taking her maternity leave for another few weeks, but she was not flying on cases anymore. Hotch had taken her out of the field at her seventh month, and as much as she wanted to fight him on it, she had refused to say a word to him. She did not want to show him any weakness, or that it bothered her, so she kept her mouth shut and did as he asked.

"Do you want to eat here or go to a restaurant?" Derek asked, as they approached the food court.

"Mmmmm I dunno…maybe here…I need junk food so badly."

Derek laughed at her, and he was about to ask what she wanted when her hand went to her stomach, and she grimaced in pain.

"Oh God." She said, closing her eyes to fight the tears.

"Are you okay? What's going on?"

"I don't know, I just got this huge pain." She said breathlessly.

"Do you think you're in labor?" Derek asked, terrified.

"No, I can't be…I still have another month," She cried as another pain in her stomach make her almost bend over double.

"Princess, let's go to the emergency room…this is not normal." He rushed her out of the crowded mall. They made it to his car as fast as she was able to walk. Another wave of pain struck her, and she gripped the seat, letting a few tears slide down her cheeks.

"It's okay, sweetie, you're fine, everything will be fine." He replied, pulling out of the mall as fast as he was able to drive. Emily started to panic, this can't be happening, she thought…she was only eight months pregnant…it was too early…she couldn't be having the baby now.

When Morgan pulled onto the emergency ramp, a few nurses were waiting for them since Morgan had called ahead. They rushed Emily inside, and Derek followed them with a terrified face.

"Please stay with me." Emily begged as tears were now sliding down her face. The nurses agree to let Morgan in with her after she told them it was her brother.

They took Emily into a room to check her vitals, and the baby's heartbeat. After the nurses had changed her into a hospital gown, the emergency obstetrician checked on her. The doctor determined she was dilated, and they needed to induce her into labor for the baby's safety. Emily was nearly freaking out by now, and she could not stop crying. Morgan held her hand the entire time and called the team and her mom. One hour later, Emily was sedated enough for the pain to be tolerable, but she was still freaking out. She knew how dangerous it was to have a baby at eight months. She also knew Grace's life was in danger, and that added to her stress to cause her to continue to cry. By the time Elizabeth Prentiss showed up at the hospital, Emily's blood pressure had gone up to a dangerous level, and the doctors decided they had to perform an emergency c-section. The ambassador barely made it in time to be in the room with her, but she did get to hold her hand as she watched her daughter cry. She was trying to be strong for both Emily and Gracie. A little while later, the doctor placed the tiny crying baby in Emily's arms. Grace was a little underweight, and she would have to spend a few days in the incubator, but she was healthy, and there were no major problems with her. Fresh tears slide down Emily's face, but now they were for a completely different reason. It was a feeling she would never be able to describe as she smiled at the pink baby that was now forcefully crying in her arms.

"You are perfect," Emily cried softly. "Shh, it's okay, sweetheart, mommy is here." She whispered softly. Her voice seemed to have some effect because as soon as the baby heard her voice, her crying subsided, and the dark chocolate brown eyes focused on Emily.

"Hello, my angel," Emily said sweetly, and the ambassador, too, could not hold the tears back. Grace was the spitting image of Emily. Her alabaster skin was all reddish now due to the crying and birth, and she had dark thick black hair despite being a newborn. Her eyes were a little lighter than Emily's and the small dimples were formed on her cheeks.

"Mrs. Prentiss, we need to take the baby to clean her up and run some tests, and she has to be in the incubator for a little bit." One of the nurses said.

"Is she okay?" Emily asked, scared.

"She's fine, it's just routine, she's premature, so we want to make sure she's okay." The nurse said kindly as Emily finally released the baby from her arms.

She watched them take Grace away, and her eyes filled with tears again.

"It's okay, dear, she's fine, you're both fine." Elizabeth murmured, kissing Emily's forehead and caressing her hand. Emily nodded softly too tired to say anything else. Her baby was fine, that was all that mattered to her. She drifted off to sleep as her mother held her hand praying and thanking God that both Emily and the baby were fine.

Emily woke up a while later; her mother was next to her as well as were JJ and Garcia.

"Hey, gumdrop." Garcia said, smiling at her. Emily looked around the room that was filled with pink balloons that said congratulations and "It's a girl", as well as several gift bags and bouquets of flowers.

"You guys have already brought my daughter the entire store…you need to stop, or else I won't have any room to put anything else."

"Nonsense, it is my duty as an aunt to spoil this baby; I am not taking anything back Emily Prentiss." Garcia said, speaking very fast, and both JJ and the ambassador laughed.

"How are you feeling, hon?" JJ asked as she approached her giving her a small but warm hug.

"I'm okay, but where is my daughter?"

"Still in the incubator, dear." The ambassador replied.

"Is she doing any better?" Emily asked, sitting up in the bed…she wanted nothing more than to hold her daughter in her arms.

"She is perfect, honey, she just needs to be there so they know her body heat is stable." Elizabeth said as she smiled.

"I want to see her." Emily demanded.

"You will, dear, as soon as the nurse comes by, she will take you to see her."

Emily smiled shortly; she was so happy her friends and mother were there, but she wanted nothing more than to see her baby girl. She had been terrified of losing her, and she never wanted to let go of her again.

A few days later, Emily and Grace were cleared to go home; they needed to take it easy at home, and Emily was probably going to have to take a longer maternity leave, but other than that, they both got a clean bill of health. The whole team came over the first night to spend time with her and the baby who had quickly gained the whole team's heart. Especially Reid's who did not seem to want to let go of the little girl. Everyone had been with Emily for the past few days as much as they could, even Clyde Easter, who had promised her he would take a week off to take care of her and Grace.

One evening after Emily was home, the team had to stay at Quantico for most of the day doing paperwork. Around seven in the evening, the bullpen was almost empty except for the Unit Chief and Rossi. Dave made his way into Aaron's office to drop the files for their next case. Except for work-related issues, the two best friends hardly talked anymore; in fact, they had stopped being friends. Dave was furious at Aaron for the way he had treated Emily during the past seven months, and Aaron refused to listen to anyone at all when it came to Emily.

Rossi walked in and watched as Hotch worked on a case file with deep concentration.

"Sorry to disturb you, here's our next case." Dave said, handing him the file.

"Thank you." Hotch replied shortly.

"Also, this is Emily's maternity leave paperwork because she went into labor early and will be taking a longer leave." Dave said, handing him the next file. By now, Hotch was used to not dealing with anything that had to do with Emily. They were still professional at work, but she tried to go to Rossi for most of her personal paperwork. Something that was fine with the unit chief since he wanted nothing to do with her.

"That's fine." He replied in a cool tone. Hearing her name still hurt more than anything.

Dave was about to leave, but he stopped at the door frame watching his old friend's expressions.

"Is something wrong?" Hotch asked, as he realized the older man had not left.

"It's just I'm a little baffled…" Dave said calmly.

"About what?" Hotch asked, confused.

"It's just funny how you blame Emily for cheating, and you are convinced her daughter is someone else's." Dave said, pausing for a second to watch the man in front of him.

"Dave..." Aaron cut him off…this was none of his business.

"You know the man that she supposedly cheated on you with is a Caucasian male with blonde hair, from what we saw in the pictures." Dave continued, ignoring Hotch.

"Are you going anywhere with this?" Hotch asked annoyed.

"Well, see, I'm not an expert on genetics, but I would like to think some of the genes of a blonde father would transfer to the baby."

Hotch look at him completely confused. Dave smiled deeply and took a picture from his coat pocket.

"Yet, Emily's little girl has dark chocolate eyes and dark hair, and the funniest part of all is that she has dimples." Dave said sardonically.

"To me, she looks more like her father is brunette with dark brown eyes and dimples, she does not have any genes of a blonde father."

Dave walked back into the office placing the picture on Aaron's desk and walked away. Aaron stood there in shock, but after a few minutes he picked up the picture looking at it. The little girl in the picture was identical to Emily. A weird feeling rushed through his body as he sat looking at the picture; he wanted to internally smile and be happy for her. He felt strange suddenly, as a mixture of sadness and happiness crossed him. He saw himself holding the little girl as if she was his, then he had to remember she was not his, and he quickly put the picture away.

Later that night, he decided it was time to finally let go of Emily Prentiss; he had been mourning her for a while now. It was obvious that she had her own life now, and he just needed to forget about her, he needed to get her out of his mind. Maybe he had no feelings for Beth at all, but he could see himself being with her, she was attractive after all.

Emily had been the love of his life, and he was not sure when he would recover, but he needed to try to get over her. Yes, he had loved Haley as well, but it was not the same. His love for Emily was a much more mature kind of love. She got him better than anyone else did; they were friends before anything else. When Haley had cheated on him he was kind of expecting it. It still hurt him, but they had been over for so long, he was surprised she had not cheated before. With Emily it was different, she had become his everything, and she had devastated him with what she did. He had given her his entire soul, and she had hurt him like no one else had. He was not sure if he would ever forgive her. It was time to give himself a chance and move on.

Later that night he took Beth for a cup of coffee; they had been talking a lot, and he realized he needed to do this for himself. They had a good time and although most the time his mind was somewhere else, he realized he could maybe feel something for her. When he dropped her off back at her apartment, he walked her to her door.

"Thank you for tonight, it was amazing." Beth said, smiling.

"Thank you for going, I really did have a good time, too." He said smiling softly, and then he leaned down pressing a kiss on her lips. Beth took the opportunity to deepen the kiss and wrapped her arms around his neck. Although he felt weird, he went along with it, he needed to do this for himself.


	18. Chapter 18

Framed

Chapter 18: Hope

It had been a month since Emily and Grace had been released from the hospital, and they were now enjoying being at home. Emily had never experienced such joy in her life; Grace was definitely the best thing that had happened to her. The little girl was now her entire reason to live. She was so glad she could extend her maternity leave so she would have a lot more time with her baby girl…there was nothing in the world she enjoyed more than spending time with her. She had already begun to realize what her daughter liked and disliked. Grace liked to sleep with a stuffed duck Spencer had given her; she liked to cuddle with her blankets wrapped around her to take a nap, but not at night time because it made her sweat and made her stay awake most of the night. Emily was doing both formula and breastfeeding, but Grace like breast milk the best. Maybe it was because she had a certain closeness to her mom while breast feeding; sometimes, she wasn't even eating, she just lay there attached to her mother's breast staring up at her mom. Grace also liked baths, actually, baths were her favorite; she just loved water. She had already splashed her little foot in the water getting water everywhere even on Emily's face. Little Gracie also had her favorite pajamas, too…she liked the soft purple rompers with flowers Penelope gave her. It was funny how she was only a month old, and Emily already knew so much about her. Grace was going to be stubborn and feisty; Emily could already imagine her at fifteen rebelling against her, but she was also a mama's girl, sometimes at night she would cry just so Emily would come pick her up and cradle her in her arms.

Gracie's eyes had turned dark chocolate just like her father's, and sometimes, Emily could see him through Gracie's eyes. Her dark hair was definitely going to be curly; Emily could already see the small locks starting to form. She had Emily's smile and thin nose; she also had her pale alabaster skin. The small dimples were starting to get more prominent. Emily could already imagine Grace smiling a full dimple smile with puppy dog eyes to get away with things, and she could see herself falling for it. As much as Emily had sworn her entire life she was going to be the best mother she could be and she would never spoil her children, she now knew she was going to fail big at that. Emily was already spoiling Grace…she was letting her sleep in her bed despite what every parenting book she had read said. She knew Grace slept better and didn't cry as much at night if she was bundled up next to her. She didn't even let a few seconds go by without picking Grace up from the crib as soon as she started crying. The truth was Emily was immensely happy with the gift God had given her and despite what had happened, she was happier than she had ever been.

That Friday morning, Emily sat on her living room sofa with her two best friends drinking coffee and listening to the latest gossip in the office. Garcia was happily making sounds to make Grace smile; JJ was gently holding the baby who was staring at Garcia intently.

"She's gorgeous, I can't get over her…" JJ stated.

"I know, I just want to eat her up…" Garcia agreed.

"And she is so calm; I remember Henry was crying all the time at her age." JJ said, rolling her eyes.

"That's true…she hardly ever cries and sleeps most of the night now." Emily told her friends with a smile on her face.

"Are you doing okay? The blonde asked Emily with an intense look. Despite how much joy Grace had brought into Emily's life, they knew she still loved Aaron.

"I'm doing okay…I've been so busy with Grace I've hardly had time to do anything else."

"Well, it's a good think she still has two months more of maternity leave, although we miss you." Garcia added.

"I miss work, too. I'm not going to lie, you know I'm not the kind of person who sits around and just waits, but this time with her has been amazing."

"It's incredible what becoming a mother can do to you." JJ added with a smile, with Emily nodding, beaming at her daughter.

"She is the best gift I have gotten."

"Well, if you ever need a break or to sleep, Auntie PG can watch this little pumpkin anytime you want." The technical analyst said, excited.

"You know, I might just take you up on that, P.G, I need a pedicure so badly."

"Don't we all? God, I feel like we never take care of ourselves any more with this job!" The blonde agreed.

"We should have a girl's date soon…brunch, mimosas and a full spa treatment." Garcia squealed.

"You know, that would actually be nice, I might be able to get my mother to stay with Grace before she heads back to London."

"She's getting posted again?" JJ inquired, arching her brows.

"For a few months only, but God, I do not know what I'm going to do without her help."

"You will be fine, sugar, you have us."

"I know, Garcie, it's just that her and I are finally having such a great relationship, and I love that."

"Well, she will be retiring soon, Em, and you'll have all the time with her and so will Grace."

The three women turned to look at the baby who was now sleeping peacefully in JJ's arms. Emily smiled widely, her daughter and her two best friends were here for her, and even if her mom was leaving for a while, she would come back, and then they would have all the time in the world to make up for their past distance.

Aaron had been dancing around his feelings for Beth for the past four weeks; he was trying to convince himself that eventually he would have feelings for Beth. He knew love was not something he could force himself into, but maybe, just maybe, he could learn to love Beth the way he had loved Emily. Of course, that was a huge comparison, because he would never be able to love anyone the way he loved Emily. The thing was, there had been so many things that had made him fall for Emily, he would never be able to feel the same about Beth. Emily had been his best friend before they became something else, but he barely knew Beth. Emily knew him better that he knew himself, she understood him more than anyone ever had. He didn't think Beth would ever be able to understand the demons that sometimes crashed in on him. Emily was not the type of woman that needed protection, or a man to save her. In fact, one of the things that he loved the most about her was how strong she was and how she did not put up with anyone's shit, including his. Beth was the type of woman who needed a man to save her and protect her, even if she was a FBI agent. It was not that he had a problem with that; as a man, he had been raised with the tenet that his job was to love, cherish and protect a woman. But with Beth, it was like he was in high school again dating Haley; during that time, he sometimes felt like Haley was more like his daughter instead of his wife. Of course, one did not make love to his daughter, but Haley never had the maturity to assume her role as a wife in their marriage. It was always him who had to be in charge of everything in the house, even with the crazy hours he worked. He had always been the strong one and the one who had to protect, he could never express his feeling or emotions, so his role was the strong man who took care of the fragile woman. and that was all.

Beth was just like that…she wanted to be saved and protected, and she wanted him to make her the only thing that had his attention. Of course, she was a beautiful woman, but those feelings simply weren't there, as hard as he had tried. They had only kissed a couple of times and that was all; they had not slept together yet, maybe because it did not feel right yet, or maybe because he just didn't feel that tingle with her. He remembered being in love with Emily for longer than he could imagine way before they started dating, and all he did was fantasize about being with her making love to her and making her his. He could hardly keep his hands off her once they had started dating, and he could never get enough of her. With Beth, he simply did not feel that at all…that attraction, that fire when he kissed her.

Perhaps, if they had sex he would be able to feel something for her and move on finally. Maybe he was not allowing himself to be truly happy and give himself a chance. He figured that he needed to give himself a chance to be with her and try to fall in love with her. He managed to convince himself that sooner or later he would fall in love with Beth if he tried hard enough.

That Friday afternoon, Aaron and Beth were supposed to spend the night making dinner and hanging out. Aaron also knew they would try to spend the night together. As much as he had pushed her away and tried to make all kinds of excuses why he could not spend the night with her, at some point he knew it had to happen. He arrived at her apartment around seven o'clock that evening, ready to cook together and spend time together. He stepped up to her door holding a small bouquet of flowers, and as odd as it felt, he had been raised a gentleman, and he wanted to try to treat her right. Beth opened the door wearing a very revealing blue dress with half of her cleavage showing and tied around her back. Aaron looked surprised to see her wearing so little clothes…he was not used to seeing his subordinate like that.

"You look beautiful" he said, regardless of the uneasy feeling he was having.

"Thank you, baby." She said, placing a kiss on his lips, finally moving out of the way so he could come in.

He stepped inside the apartment then she threw herself into his arms trying to kiss him passionately. However, he put a stop to the kiss almost right away…maybe it was better if they took things slowly that evening; no matter how much he tried, he was having a difficult time keeping his mind away from Emily…almost everything reminded him of her.

They spent the first hour drinking and cooking, and that entire time Beth was trying her best to hover over him with kisses and words of praise. He kept trying to slowly push her away without making her feel bad, and he knew he was going to need a lot of alcohol if he wanted anything to happen with her that evening.

"Are you okay? I feel like you're mad at me or something." Beth said, looking at him with apprehension.

"What? No, of course not, Beth, it's just been a long week." He lied.

"I just want everything to work out, you know?"

"I know, me too, everything is fine." He replied, placing a quick kiss on her lips and putting his attention back on the meal he was cooking.

"Okay, since dinner is almost ready, I'm going upstairs really quickly to freshen up." Beth said, a little sadly.

"Okay, I'll set everything up." He said almost absently.

Beth walked away feeling a little defeated; she was not sure what the hell was wrong with him, but she needed to make sure they slept together that night no matter what she had to do, even if she had to drug him. She went upstairs to put on a very short lingerie set she had bought just for this occasion; he was going to be hers one way or another.

Aaron finished dinner and realized maybe he was being too short with Beth, and that he needed to try harder to be with her if he really wanted this to work. So, he took another large shot of whisky hoping it would give him the courage to be with her…he needed to give her a chance. He then started setting up the table and getting everything ready for their dinner; setting the plates and wine at the center of the table and putting on some light music. Then he saw the large candles on the table, and he decided it would be a nice touch to set the candles for her as well. He walked into the kitchen again, looking for matches or a lighter. He did not want to ask Beth because he wanted it to be a surprise. Where would women keep matches? Maybe in one of the kitchen drawers? He did not want to be snooping around her place, but he knew she would not mind the nice touch. So, he proceeded to open the first drawer in the counter; there were post its and fast food take out menus, but nothing else. The second drawer contained table mats and some nice table cutlery. He opened the third drawer, and the entire thing came out, spilling all its contents on the floor and scattering everything all over the floor. It was mostly mail and other papers, but now there was a whole mess on the kitchen floor.

"Dammit," He cursed as he tried to pick everything up before Beth came back downstairs. Aaron tried to quickly pick up all the papers from the floor putting them back into the drawer. But then something caught his attention…it was an envelop containing pictures, one having half fallen out of the envelop. For some reason, he had seen that one before…very carefully, he took the pictures from the envelop and in doing so, a small bottle fell to the ground. He carefully picked up the bottle and realized it was a sedative. His attention went back to the pictures, and his breath caught in his throat. It was the same pictures that had been mailed to him over eight months ago, containing pictures of Emily and a guy in bed. He frantically went through the pictures and realized there was something wrong…some of these pictures he had never seen. Some of them showed Emily with the guy, but the other ones were showing scenes of Emily alone. Only she seemed to be unconscious or sleeping, then there was a picture where the blonde male was undressing her and she was completely passed out. What the hell was going on and why did Beth have these pictures.

Beth walked into the kitchen wearing more make up than she had when she had gone upstairs, and when she saw Aaron holding the pictures her heart stopped beating.

"Aaron, what are you doing? She asked, trying to sound calm.

"Why do you have these?" Aaron shot back, looking at her with hatred and pain…he couldn't understand what was going on.

"Where did you find them, and what do you mean going through my things?"

"Why in the hell do you have these pictures, Beth?" He barked furiously.

"Aaron, calm down please, I can explain." Beth said nervously.

"You can explain? Tell me how this can be explained. You set her up, she was not lying!" He was so mad his whole body was shaking.

"Aaron, please..." Beth begged, approaching him, trying to grab him.

"Please what!? I can't believe you did this! How could you have done something so evil and low!?"

"You don't understand..." Beth stammered.

"This is a frame-up…surely you know you can be prosecuted for this. Beth, this is a crime." He hissed.

"Aaron, please listen to me..."

"You have nothing to say that I want to listen to…I'm pressing charges against you." He walked out of the kitchen as Beth rushed after him.

"Baby, please..." She said, grabbing at his arm.

"Don't touch me! Get away from me!" Aaron screamed, giving her his most terrifying death glare, making her jump.

"Don't come anywhere near me or her, or I will make sure this gets prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

With that he marched out of her house. Aaron had never been so angry in his entire life. He could feel the blood rushing through his veins like boiling water. He needed to see Emily and talk to her, although he knew she would never ever forgive him for what he had done to her.


	19. Chapter 19

Framed

Chapter 19: No way Out

As Aaron drove away from Beth's apartment, he was shaking, he had never been so angry in his entire life. All he could think about was he wanted to kill Beth. How could he have been so stupid to believe her…why didn't he listen to Emily. Emily had been right that she had been set up to make it look like she had been cheating on him. For months, he had been beating himself with the idea that the woman that he loved betrayed him; he had been devastated and felt his life was basically over. He had never experienced so much pain and all for what? To find out it was all a lie and a game for Beth. How could he have been fooled that easily. He was a profiler and a damn good at that…he should have seen the signs, he should have known better. He knew the truth was he was so angry and hurt, he didn't allow himself to see the truth. He refused to listen anyone but his stupid ego. Now, here he was staring at the evidence in front of him proving that Emily had never cheated on him, she'd never lied to him, and all this time, he had accused her of betraying their love and their trust by getting pregnant with another man. _Oh god! NO NO NO! How could he have been so fucking stupid? Grace was his daughter; she was HIS baby, Oh God! No, please!_

He drove around for a while without deciding what to do. His first instinct was to go to Emily's and get on his knees begging her until she forgive him. But, he knew better than to do that. He knew Emily better than anyone in this world. She wasn't going to just forgive him that easily…hell, he realized she might never forgive him now. He seriously doubted she would even open the door for him. Aaron even thought about sending her flowers and candy, but he knew that wasn't going to work either; Emily wasn't that kind of girl anyway. In addition, he had fucked up so badly there might not be a way to fix this. Aaron knew for a fact he had lost Emily for now, and chances were she wasn't going to forgive him ever. Still, he had to do something, he had to at least try; hell, he wanted to desperately see his daughter. Now, he understood why the image of the little girl had been haunting him for weeks. He might have lost Emily, but he was hoping he would at least still have a chance to be in his daughter's life.

Aaron finally drove to the only place he knew he could go; after everything that had happened, he knew it was his one and only choice where he might have a chance. He parked outside the mansion and went to the door. Walking to the door, a million thoughts were going through his head. Ringing the doorbell, he prayed to God there was a way to repair his relationship with Emily because he knew his life would be over if he couldn't. A few minutes later, the door opened revealing a certain older goateed man, who looked at Aaron with an astonished look on his face. Rossi knew they didn't have a case, and Aaron had no reason to come by his house, especially after they had stopped being friends because of Aaron's treatment of Emily.

"Aaron, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?" He asked, amused.

"I wouldn't have come here if it wasn't important, you know that better than anyone." Aaron responded desperately.

"Is this about work? Because if it isn't, we have nothing to talk about?" 

"Please, Dave, I'm begging you, I don't know where else to go."

Dave studied his old friend…there was definitely something going on…Dave could see it in his eyes and on his face. As mad as he was with Aaron, he would always be his friend, and he would always be there for him, no matter what. Dave moved out of the door and motioned for him to enter.

"What do you need, Aaron?" Dave asked, as they stepped into his living room.

"I found these in Beth's apartment." Aaron said, taking the pictures from his coat and handing them to Dave. Dave scanned the pictures quickly then turned to look at his ex-friend. He wasn't sure if he should be happy or furious with him.

"I've known about this for over eight months...we all have...it was only you who was to fucking stupid and arrogant to see the truth." Dave said, smirking at him and walking toward the fireplace.

"I need to talk to her."

"Good luck with that...you're dead to her..." Rossi responded with a laugh.

"I need your help, please, you're the only one who can help me." Aaron begged again, the desperation evident in his voice. Dave just laughed, shaking his head angrily at him.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't beat the shit out of you and tell you to get the hell out of my house." Dave said angrily.

"Because as mad as you are at me, you love her, too; if you don't want to do it for me do it for her. You know she is suffering, too, and Grace deserves to have a father."

"Oh, so now. she is your daughter?" Dave asked incredulously. "I thought Emily told me you wanted nothing to do with her, or the baby." Dave barked.

"I made a mistake…you can be angry with me and hate me, hell you can even beat the shit out of me, and I won't fight back, but if we want justice for Emily, then I need your help, please, just do it for her." Aaron implored.

"Are you planning to take legal action with this?" Dave asked, surprised.

"Absolutely, this is a frame up. She is a federal agent, she has committed a crime, and I will report it to the authorities." Aaron said without hesitation.

"Okay then, let's fry that bitch." He responded, making Aaron smirk for a second.

"Aaron, I need you to know this isn't going to be easy." Dave said, looking at his friend with less anger.

"I know that."

"She might never forgive you, or let you see Grace."

"I'm aware of that. But, I can't just sit here thinking that she would never forgive me and do nothing. I've failed her once already…I can't do that again."

"Okay, you also need to know that I can only do so much, you're going to have to work on gaining her forgiveness. 

"I'll do anything it takes."

"You have to talk to her."

"She's not going to listen to me, Dave, that's why I came here, she'll listen to you, you know that." 

"Look, I'll try to talk to her, but you have to go there first; she has to know you tried before you send in backup."

"She's not even going to open the door for me." Aaron said, ashamed.

"That's going to be a price you're going to have to risk, you're going to have to get on your knees and beg for her forgiveness over and over no matter how many time she rejects you, or shuts the door in your face." Dave said firmly.

"I'm afraid she'll never forgive me." Aaron said sadly. "But, I need a chance to be in Grace's life…I know I don't deserve it, but I have to do everything in my power to not lose the rights to my child. I know I've probably lost Emily, but I can't lose my daughter, too."

"Aaron, you have to take one step at a time. I know you made a mistake, and as much as I want to punch you in the face right now, I have made mistakes in my past myself. We are all human, and unfortunately, a very evil person tricked you." Dave stopped looking at the fireplace.

"How could I have been so stupid, Dave? How could I have done this to Emily" Aaron pondered, and his eyes filled with tears.

"I think you were hurt and angry, and that didn't let you see clear. I'm not justifying what you did, but you were cheated on before and were perhaps reacting toward those feelings."

"Beth has to pay for what she did, Dave, I can't let her get away with this." Aaron stated angrily.

"She won't, we'll report this to the Director of the BAU in the morning, turn in the pictures you have as evidence, and we can let them handle it from there. We can make sure she never sets foot on the FBI and BAU campus again."

"I'll call Strauss in the morning, it's late now, and I then just need to make things right and see Emily."

"Aaron, go home and get some sleep. I know you're desperate to see her, but I don't think it's a good idea that you go there now. After we call the authorities on Beth tomorrow, and she's in custody, then go see her; Emily might listen better to you if she knows that Beth is paying for what she did."

"Thank you, Dave, for everything."

"Of course, Aaron, I'm your friend, and I'll always be here, no matter how many times you fuck up."

The following morning, both Aaron and Dave headed to meet with the director of the BAU and Strauss. They showed them the pictures that Aaron had found in Beth's apartment, only they told a little white lie to the directors…that Aaron had found the pictures on her desk. Of course, Penelope had already managed to manipulate the footage so there was a problem with the system…the cameras had been out of service for a few days. That wouldn't be hard to prove given that if they requested a fingerprint test, Beth's DNA was all over the pictures; additionally, Dave had managed to get his friend, the doctor that had seen Emily when they believed she had been raped, to provide medical records that showed Emily's system contained the same drug that was allegedly found in Beth's drawer.

That was enough evidence to provide a warrant for Beth's arrest and a court order to search Beth's apartment and computer. To their advantage, they were able to find emails and conversations where Beth asked a man named Nathan Nicholson to help her set up Emily and where she offered him money to do it. By two o'clock that afternoon, the sheriff walked inside the bullpen and arrested Beth. It was not necessarily the quietest way to go about it, but the entire team was happy about it, and they wished they could have filmed her face showing her horror and shock when she was being cuffed.

"God, this is one of those moments where I wish I could upload this video to YouTube and all social media." Penelope said angrily, as they all watched from the catwalk as Beth was escorted out of the BAU.

"Don't worry, baby girl, I think she was humiliated enough with everyone in here seeing her." Morgan said, glancing around.

"I just wish Emily was here to see this." JJ said, sighing.

"I think Emily will be happy to know this bitch is behind bars." Derek said, again putting his arms around the two blondes.

"We need to call her and let her know." Garcia said excitedly.

"Honey, as much as I would love to be the one delivering the news, I'm afraid it's someone else's job to let her know." JJ said, looking toward Aaron's direction, while he was talking to one of the detectives.

"Do you think they will ever get back together?" Spencer asked.

"You know, genius boy, I'm glad Beth has been arrested, but I honestly doubt Emily will ever forgive Aaron." Morgan said sadly.

That evening, Aaron finally got the courage to go see Emily. He knew it was a long shot, but he had to at least try. He was not expecting Emily to let him talk to her, or even open her door to him, but he had to start somewhere, and no matter how many times he had to go there and beg for her forgiveness, he would.

He stopped outside her door nervously wondering what he was going to say to her…his mind was a total blank. After a few minutes, he finally decided to knock on the door. Emily had just put Grace in her bed asleep after she had been crying for most of that day when she heard the knock on the door. She internally cursed whomever was on the other side of the door and prayed Grace didn't wake up wailing again. Surprisingly, the little girl didn't seem to hear the noise and kept sleeping peacefully in her crib. Emily sighed and walked out of the nursery heading toward the door…she was going to kill whomever was there. Emily was not in the mood for visits especially since they almost woke her baby up. However, her jaw dropped when she saw who was on the other side of the door. On any other occasion, she would have refused to open the door, but she remembered he was still her boss, and she owed him some sort of respect.

"What are you doing here, sir?" She asked in a harsh tone as she swung the door open.

"May I come in? I need to talk to you." He said quietly.

"No, you can't, what the hell do you want, Aaron?" She asked defensively, crossing her arms over her chest. Aaron sighed…he knew this was going to be hard.

"Beth was arrested this morning...we found pictures that showed how she set you up...she is being charged with framing you under duress and taking part in a conspiracy." Emily arched her brows, but she glared at Aaron.

"I'm sorry, but how does this concern me?"

"Emily, I am so sorry for everything…for not believing you before...I just..."

"Please leave!" She said suddenly, her fiery eyes full of tears.

"Emily, please just listen for a minute…"

"I have nothing to talk to you about, ' _SIR',_ we spoke our last words a while ago!"

"I want to see Grace, please, I need to see my daughter."

"She is not your daughter!" Emily barked, "You lost any rights you had to her a long time ago. You said you wanted nothing to do with her or me!"

"I made a mistake…I am so sorry...I'll do anything it takes to fix this...to gain your forgiveness." He begged

"I will never forgive you! Please, get out of my house before I call the police!"

"Emily, please..."

"Get out! I don't want to see you anywhere near Grace or me. I will deal with you at work because I have no choice, or until my transfer to Interpol goes through, but in the meantime, stay away from us. You are dead to us!" and with that, Emily slammed the door in his face leaving him standing there in shock.


	20. Chapter 20

Framed

Chapter 20: A Thousand Words

For the next three weeks, Aaron tried everything in his power to talk to Emily and to see his daughter. He went to see Emily a couple more times: the first time he tried, she closed the door in his face without even letting him say a word, the second time, Emily didn't even bother opening the door. The third time, he sent her a letter addressed to her apartment, hoping at least she would read the letter even if she didn't want to talk with him. Three days later, the letter was sent back to him by the post office without being opened. He also sent her a few emails, none of which replied to; hell, he even texted and called her cell phone several times, but she didn't answer any of his calls or messages. He was so desperate, he didn't know what else to do. He was well aware that it would take a while before Emily forgave him, but if she wasn't even talking to him, he had no chance at all. His last resource was Rossi; he knew that the only person in the world Emily would talk to was going to be Dave. Aaron had tried many times to get her attention, but he was failing big time, and he needed a little bit of help. Dave knew that as much as Aaron had fucked up, he was trying to do the right thing to make up for his mistakes, so he decided that it was time to give his best friend a little hand.

Since Grace had been born, Dave had been closer to Emily than ever. He was used to coming to Emily's house almost every week to take her out for lunch, or maybe a walk to the park. So, as usual on Sunday morning, he and Emily went to church and then headed to a nearby restaurant to have a quiet lunch and talk like they always did. While they were waiting for their lunch to arrive, Dave held Grace in his arms feeding her from her bottle. Emily was smiling widely at the image of her daughter snuggled in Dave's arms…he was like a grandfather to her baby girl. Who would have thought Dave Rossi was such a softy? Yet here he was feeding her daughter with a smile on his face and baby-talking to Grace just like she understood everything he was saying to her. Emily had always been close to Rossi since the first day he came back to the BAU, but now they were closer than ever. Maybe it was because Emily never had a father figure, or because Rossi just got her better than most people, but she loved him like he was a father to her.

"I think she has her momma's appetite." Dave teased, as Grace ate vigorously from the bottle.

"Are you calling me fat Dave Rossi?" Emily feigned shock.

"Never, sweetheart, you do, however, have a very healthy appetite." He smiled warmly. Emily just laughed, rolling her eyes.

"That's because she has been sucking me dry." she joked and Rossi laughed.

"You ate like that before you even thought of having her."

"Hey, you're making me feel fat" she swatted at his arm, and they laughed again.

"Never, you're beautiful, just like this angel."

"She is beautiful, isn't she?" Emily said, watching her daughter nursing on her bottle. 

"And those dimples…Dave said causally, and Emily just smiled. Dave looked at her and realized that topic was still a sore subject.

"Have you spoken to him?" Dave realized he might piss her off, but he had to try.

"Umm no, I haven't…I don't want to talk to him, Dave, not after what he did." Emily said, closing her eyes for a minute.

"I understand you have the right to be upset, I would be if I were you." Dave said calmly.

Emily just remained quiet.

"Em, may I say something that may upset you?" 

"Why I do I have a feeling that you're going to say it anyway no matter what I say?" She answered in an annoyed tone.

"You know I love you, and I want the best for you."

"I know that, Dave, that doesn't mean I want to talk about him."

"I know, honey, and I know you're hurt and what he did was wrong on all levels, but you also have to understand Aaron was as much a victim as you were."

"I don't even know what that's supposed to mean." Emily said, shaking her head, irritated.

"It means that Beth set you _both_ up. Yeah, you were the main target, but she also targeted Aaron by making him believe the person he loved the most in this world had cheated on him."

"I understand that, Dave, I'm not stupid; what I don't understand is how he could believe all of it; how he could have just…left me." Emily said, as tears formed in her eyes.

"Because he is human, Em, he makes mistakes just as you and I."

"That doesn't mean anything, Dave, what he did, is just why I could never forgive him."

"And I'm not saying you have to; I understand you are angry, and this will take a while to heal."

"Then what are you saying?"

"Are you going to keep Grace away from him forever?"

"He said he didn't want anything to do with her."

"Again, he made a mistake."

"Then, that's a price Aaron's going to have to pay for that."

"How's that Grace's fault? Dave inquired, looking at her. Emily just looked down. "So, you're just going to let your daughter grow up without a father so you can stay mad at him forever?"

"No, that's not it, he chose not to be there."

"He did at first when you both were entrapped by a criminal…now, he wants to be there for her."

"It's too late."

"So, when Grace is fifteen, and she asks you why her father wasn't there for her, what are you going to tell her?" Dave questioned.

"The truth!"

"What is the truth, Em? That he made a mistake, and then he tried to fix it? Or, that you refused him the right to see her because you were too mad at him to forgive him?" Emily just shook her head.

"Letting him see her doesn't mean you have to forgive him; hell, you don't ever have to forgive him. Emily, you know what it's like to grow up without a father, and how hard it was for you…are you willing to let your daughter go through the same sort of childhood you had?" 

"I don't know..I…" Her eyes filled with tears and started spilling over her eyelids and running down her cheeks.

"Emily, don't let Beth win, she's already separated you and Aaron, don't let her separate your daughter from her father." Dave said, taking her hand.

"I need to think about it," Emily said, looking down…she didn't want to talk about it anymore.

"Okay, I don't want you to do anything you don't want to do, just understand whatever you decide to do is going to impact her future." Dave said, looking at the baby in his arms.

"I know, and I really appreciate you doing this, Dave."

About a week later, Emily went to the BAU to turn in some paperwork concerning her maternity leave. She had been out for two months now on maternity leave, but since she had an emergency C-section, the BAU had granted her an additional month maternity leave. Emily just had to meet with the Unit Chief to turn in the paperwork from her insurance and other medical documents. She had wanted Dave to handle this, at first, but Emily also knew she couldn't hide from the Unit Chief forever. So, she came in that morning to turn in the paperwork she needed to and to talk with him for a few minutes. Luckily, her mother was back from her short posting, and she could keep Grace that morning so she could run some errands and go to a doctor's appointment. Since she also needed to speak to Aaron, she was glad it was lunch time and most of the team was out to lunch. She carefully made her way to his office knocking on his door.

"Come in." He called.

"Sorry to bother you." She said, looking at him skeptically.

"Emily" he said in shock, standing up immediately. "You're not bothering me, come in." He motioned for her to sit down.

"It's okay, I'm just here to give you this." Emily said, handing him the file. "It's my insurance paperwork and the rest of the documents you needed for my maternity leave."

"Of course," Aaron said as he took the file from her. "Thanks for bringing that all the way here."

"Sure, I wanted to make sure everything was in order since I'm going to be out for another month."

"Everything is perfect." He said, looking at her. "Emily, if you need more time, you still have so many hours of vacation and sick time you haven't used, I know what it's like to have a newborn baby in the house."

"Thank you." she nodded. "I will consider it." 

He looked at her, nodding as well. Emily stood there looking at him and wrapping her arms like she did when she was so nervous. Aaron was about to ask her if she was alright when she spoke again.

"I read your last letter." She said, looking away…her words caught him by surprise. "And all of your emails."

"You did?" He asked, hopeless.

"Aaron, I'm going to be very honest…I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to forgive you, but I do know I'll never forgive myself if I let my daughter grow up not knowing her father."

Aaron looked at her speechless, and his eyes filled with tears.

"Emily, I don't know what to say."

"You can see Grace whenever you want…I don't think I'll be able to be there right now…I'm still hurting a lot, but I can arrange for you and my mother to meet, or you can come over when I am not there."

"Thank you so much, Emily."

"She is your daughter, Aaron, and none of this is her fault."

"Thank you. I really appreciate it."

"Just call me, and we can arrange something." She added, walking toward the door.

She left, giving him a sad smile that broke his heart; he could see the hatred in her beautiful black eyes. She would always hate him, but at least for now, he was being allowed to see his daughter, and that was something.


	21. Chapter 21

Framed

Chapter 21 Safe Heaven

"Come on, you have to be kidding me…you can't do this to me, you promised!" Emily begged from the other side of the counter.

"Emily, you're being overly dramatic!" The ambassador said as she rolled her eyes and took a sip from her cup of coffee.

"You have to cancel that meeting, mother, you're an ambassador, isn't that something?"

"Well yeah, it is, but he's a senator, dear, you can't just cancel a meeting with a senator, honey."

"Mom, please…" Emily begged again. "You have to be here, please."

"Emily dear, you can't avoid him forever, you know that?" Her mother reasoned.

"Yes, I can!"

"Fine then, figure something out!" The ambassador said, walking away shaking her head and laughing.

The past few times Aaron had managed to visit his daughter with the ambassador there, it was rather uncomfortable for him. Given that Elizabeth Prentiss hated him probably more than Emily herself, she glared at him the entire time, which make him very uncomfortable and sad. But, Emily had chosen to make the situation to be like that…she had refused to see him no matter what, even if her life depended on it. Her mother thought she was being irrational; she knew Emily would have to deal with him at some point, but Elizabeth also understood where Emily was coming from and understood the damage he had caused Emily, notwithstanding the fact he had slept with another woman in revenge because he believed Emily had cheated on him. So, she knew her daughter was right to be angry and hurt, but she also knew Emily could not avoid the father of her little girl forever.

"Mother, this isn't funny!" Emily barked, going after her trying to keep her rage at a minimum without waking up Grace, who was now napping.

"Emily dear, just call Aaron and cancel if it's such a big deal to you." Elizabeth suggested.

Aaron was supposed to come over and spend a few hours with Grace, like he did every week. Everything was perfect until the ambassador had been called in for an emergency meeting with a senator and other politicians. The team was out on a case, except for Aaron who had requested a few days off to run errands and spend time with his kids (Grace and Jack). Emily had no one else to call that could stay with Aaron while he visited with Grace, and she blatantly refused to be alone with him for two hours.

"I can't just cancel, mother, that isn't right."

"Then, dear, you're going to have to just deal with it and see him."

"I'm not sure I'm ready."

"Emily, you can't hate him forever…he's Grace's father…you can't continue to hold this grudge, dear." Elizabeth said, as Emily sat on her bed and watched her mother get ready for her meeting.

"I'm not holding a grudge, I'm already letting him see his daughter." She defended.

"Right! And you have to be somewhere else when he's here; are you planning to avoid him for the rest of your life?" Her mother asked coldly.

"You don't understand…"

"I do understand…your father left me for another woman, and when he asked to see you

when you were five, I said it was fine." Emily's mother told her, looking at her intensely while Emily just looked down.

"I wasn't going to destroy myself hating him forever, that was just going to damage me, not him, dear."

"I don't hate Aaron." She quickly cut her off.

"Then why are you so upset about this, why can't you just stay with him while he has Grace?"

"Because...it's just...complicated...I would rather not..." Emily said, looking away.

"Do you still love him?" Her mother inquired.

"No, of course not, mother." Emily replied quickly, avoiding her mother's gaze.

"Okay then, I don't see why you can't spend a few hours with him while he sees your daughter."

"That's so not the point, mother!" Emily argued.

"Have a good time, dear, I have to go." Her mother exclaimed, pressing a kiss to her cheek. "Give a kiss to my sweet grandchild, see you guys later." And with that, the ambassador left for her meeting.

Emily stood there in the room, she had no idea what to do, she really didn't want to see Aaron, but she had no idea what else to do. It was her only choice since all her friends were gone and now her mother was gone, too, she had no other choice…she would have to deal with this.

A few hours later, Aaron arrived at Emily's place…he was so exited to see his baby girl. He had brought her a cute bear snowsuit and a little doll; it was snowing outside now, and he wanted her to be warm. Aaron knew his time with his baby was very limited especially with the ambassador there scrutinizing his every move. Of course, he was happy to see his baby girl…he thought she was the most beautiful baby girl he had ever seen. She was the spitting image of Emily; she had her same laugh, her beautiful smile and skin, and even though Dave kept saying Grace had his eyes, he only saw Emily in her baby girl eyes. Aaron could already see Emily's feistiness and stubbornness in Grace even at her young age. He was already so in love with his little girl, and those dimples made him lose his mind every time he saw them. He finally came to his senses and knocked on the door…he was very surprised to see Emily opening the door for him.

"Hey, I didn't expect to see you here." Aaron said, as he walked inside.

"Come in." She answered politely. "My mom had an emergency meeting, so she had to go."

"Oh, do you want me to come back later?" He asked politely when he saw her tension.

"No, it's okay, you're fine." Emily said shortly. "I have some things to do in my office."

"Okay, I just don't want to intrude."

"You're fine." She smiled shortly. "Let me go get her for you."

Emily went into the nursery and picked up Grace taking her downstairs to Aaron.

"Come here, love, daddy's here." Emily said sweetly to her baby, while Grace gurgled in her arms.

A huge smiled appeared on Aaron's face when Emily handed Grace to him.

"Hi sweetheart, it's me...Daddy."

"I'll be in my study, please let me know if you need anything." Emily told him.

"Thank you, I will."

Later that afternoon, after Aaron left, Emily decided to do a little grocery shopping. It was beginning to snow outside, but she was running out of formula and literally had no groceries. Her mother's meeting had gone on longer than they had expected, and she probably wouldn't be home until late at night, so Emily decided to take Grace shopping and get whatever they needed. It would take her about 30 minutes to get everything they needed, then she could come home and cuddle in bed with her little girl. Emily did notice it had started to snow a little harder as they approached the store. So, the faster she got out of there the better. She ran through the grocery aisles as fast as she could with Grace in her carrier, and she was back in the car within thirty minutes or less. She quickly placed Grace in her car seat in the back of the car and proceeded to load the groceries. It had started to snow harder...maybe it had been a very bad idea to come out. Emily got in the driver's seat and placed her seat belt on; all she wanted to do was get home and get her baby girl and her warm. However, when she tried to start her car, the engine didn't turn over. She tried a couple more times, and it still didn't turn over. The battery was fine, everything else was fine, but she just couldn't get her car to start. 

"Shit, shit! You have to be kidding me" She cried. "Please don't do this to me now." She begged, but her attempts were futile, she couldn't get her car to work.

Her first reaction was to call the police, but then she realized it might be a little extreme; yes, it was an emergency, but not enough to call the police. Of course, she and Grace were stranded in the parking lot of a Whole Foods store in the middle of a snowstorm, but even calling the cops was too much…even the cops would question her about her actions. Why in the hell would she take out a newborn baby in the middle of a snowstorm to the store? No, she definitely could not call the police, and then she realized her mother was still in her meeting and would probably be there until late that evening. Dave was working a case with her other friends, and Clyde was also out of town. Dammit, she needed to call someone before it got even darker and colder. Suddenly, Grace started to cry and Emily realized, as much as she hated the idea, Aaron was her only option. She jumped into the back seat and took Grace from her carrier shushing her and trying to calm her down. It was starting to really get cold in the car because the heater was not working well with the car being turned off. So, she swallowed her stupid pride and made the call to Aaron for Grace's safety and well-being.

"Hello, Emily?" Aaron answered, a little surprised.

"Hey, I'm sorry to bother you...I...just...I have a...problem...I just didn't know...who else to call...I'm very sorry..."

Aaron could hear her panicked voice, and Grace's cries from the background in the phone.

"It's fine. You're not bothering me, what's wrong? Are you okay?" He asked, worried.

"No, I…um, I came to the store with Grace...I…um, I can't get my car started...I… snowing now and..."

"Where are you? I'm on my way." Aaron didn't need to hear any more.

"Whole Foods on Main Street." Emily said, holding back her tears. 

"Okay, I'll be there as soon as I can." Aaron said, grabbing his keys and rushing out the door.

"Thank you, Aaron."

"Just stay in the car with Grace, okay?" He said softly.

"Okay." She hung up and wiped her eyes. Emily didn't even know why she was so scared; it was just the stupid starter, but being out there in the cold with her baby terrified her, not because of her, but because of Grace everything was so different now that she had a baby.

Aaron arrived there within minutes, and when she saw him, Emily got out of her car.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"Yes, I am, I just can't get my car to start, I don't know why."

"It's okay, we'll figure that out later, let's get you and Grace home first…it's freezing here."

Emily nodded, and he helped put Grace and her car seat into his car and load all the groceries from her car to his. Once he made sure Emily and Grace were both safe and sound in his car, he made sure her car was safely closed and locked, then they drove away.

"I've already called your insurance company and AAA, and they'll come and check your car tomorrow once the storm slows down."

Emily was about to ask how he figured out all of her information, then she remembered they used to be engaged.

"Thank you, Aaron." 

"Of course, you don't have to thank me, she's my daughter, Emily."

He drove them to Emily's house in the middle of the storm; he was just happy to know they were safe, and he was able to get to them in time. When they arrived at Emily's apartment, he helped Emily carry Grace upstairs and unloading the bigger groceries, and he also helped her put things away. Once everything was put away, he turned to look at her.

"Hey, I know this might not be the best moment to bring this up, but it just came to my mind, may I run something by you?"

"Umm sure, what is it?"

"I know you don't need the money, but I would like to be financially involved in Grace's life."

"Aaron, I..."

"I know you have it covered, and you don't need anything..."

"But, she's my daughter, too. If you don't want to use the money now, save it for college or something…I don't know, maybe to buy her an apartment when she is old enough, but I want to be part of her life…it's just fair, Emily." Aaron said with so much emotion that Emily just looked at him in shock.

"Okay." She simply said, nodding.

"Thank you."

"Thank you for wanting to do this and for picking us up." She smiled shortly.

"Of course, anytime." Then he proceeded to hand her his truck keys.

"Here, I'm going to take a cab home."

"What? Why? Are you insane! It's snowing like crazy outside."

"Which is why I'm leaving you my car, you have my child. If there's another emergency in the middle of the night, I want you to be able to move around." He explained softly. "Besides, we don't know how long it's going to take to get your car repaired."

"What about you? I can't just leave you without a car."

"I'll get one of the BAU SUV'S tomorrow, don't worry." He assured her. "Please, just take the car, I need to know Grace and you are going to be safe."

"Okay, can you at least text me when you get home." Emily begged.

"That I can do."

"Thank you for everything."

"You don't have to thank me, Em; you're the mother of my child…I'll always be here for you."

Aaron walked toward the door and turned and waved at her; she smiled back at him, this time a real smile. She remembered those times when she was so happy with him she felt like she could reach the sky.


	22. Chapter 22

Framed

Chapter 22: Lucky

One of the many reasons Emily hated the State Department so much was because their schedule was so unpredictable. Her mother would be without an assignment for months, or she could be sent away for a year to some random country. For the past few weeks, she had several calls from the State Department for late night meetings, and now she was in New York meeting with several diplomats from other countries. The worst part of all is that they always seemed to send her mother away when Emily needed her the most. Since Grace had been born…scratch that, since she found out she was pregnant with Grace, Emily had become so attached to her mother. Maybe it was because her mother had more experience than her, having already been a mother, or maybe it was because they finally had an opportunity to have a nice relationship. Whatever it was, she loved having her mother around to be there for her and to help with Grace when she had no idea what was going on…sometimes she felt like she was failing big time at being a mother.

Just like now, Grace had been crying most of the day; of course, Emily knew most of babies spent their first-year crying, but Grace was such a mellow baby, she hardly ever cried, only when she was hungry, or needed a diaper change. Most of the time, she was such a good baby, Emily could not believe she was this lucky. Except today, little Grace had been fussy most of the day; in fact, she had hardly let Emily put her down. Emily tried everything…feeding her, changing her diaper, she even tried putting her to sleep, but nothing was working. She couldn't be teething, she was too little for that, and there were no signs of her having a cold or the flu.

Emily was trying not to panic and be one of those psycho moms who took their kids to the hospital for every single little cough or sniffle. In fact, she knew most of the time newborn illnesses could be treated at home. She had already taken Gracie's temperature, and it was 98 degrees so she knew she didn't have a fever, and she didn't have a reason to freak out yet. Emily had never liked hospitals anyway, and she really didn't want her baby girl to be in one during the first year of her life. Of course, if it were an emergency she would not think twice about taking her immediately to the ER, but for something insignificant, she knew she could handle it at home. For now, she just wanted Grace to relax enough to get some sleep…maybe that's why she was so fussy, she hadn't taken a nap since she woke up that morning. Emily knew Grace was tired, and so was Emily; Grace had barely eaten anything, and the only time she was a little more relaxed was when Emily was holding her.

"Gracie, you need to sleep, love, please, you have been up for hours." Emily whispered, as she cradled the baby pacing around the nursery.

Grace just made soft cries and wiggled around in her mother's arms. Emily went over to the changing table to check her diaper again. As soon as she placed the infant down, Grace wailed full force, her little face turning red with tears rolling down her cheeks and her little arms and legs moving vigorously.

"Okay, okay...it's fine, sweetheart." Emily picked her up again and her cries only decreased a little bit. It seemed like the only comfort the three-month-old had was in her mother's arms.

Emily was beginning to get worried; it was after seven now, and she couldn't figure out what was wrong with her daughter. She knew Grace must be exhausted by now, but the baby couldn't fall sleep. Emily took Grace into her bedroom and lay down with her on her bed, hoping she could get her to sleep that way. She attempted to breastfeed her while they were lying on the bed, but Grace hardly ate anything. Emily did realize Grace was a little warmer than she had been earlier, so she picked up the thermometer from her nightstand. Measuring her temperature was another challenge, Grace started wailing again, as soon as her mother sat her back down on the bed. It took several minutes to finally get her temperature, but she was finally able to get a reading which was now 100.3…it was then she started to panic.

Gracie's body temperature had managed to go up in a matter of just a half hour. It was still cold outside, since it was still snowing, and she needed to get Grace to the hospital. However, she was not sure if the baby would be okay in the carrier by herself the entire ride to the hospital. She had hardly let Emily put her down that entire day, and Emily didn't want to call her mother because she knew she was in New York. Yes, JJ and Garcia were both home, and JJ had children, and she probably knew what to do, but something inside her told her to call _**him**_. After all, Gracie was his daughter, and he also had a child. If she was going to be at the emergency room all night with her sick child, she would rather be there with her daughter's own father than bothering anyone else. She grabbed her cell phone and made the call; her eyes were full of tears that were refusing to spill. She hated that she couldn't make her daughter feel better.

"Hey, is everything okay?" …Was his way of answering knowing she would not call unless something was not okay.

"No, I'm sorry to call you, Aaron, but, I think Grace is sick. I can't get her to stop crying, and she now has a fever." He could hear the tears in her voice.

"Okay, just calm down." He said, as he rushed to put on his shoes. "How high is her fever?"

"100.3, I took it earlier like half hour ago and it was 98." She sniffled.

"It's okay, she's still fine for now; I'm on my way."

"Thank you."

Aaron arrived at her apartment ten minutes later, knocking at her door, and she rushed to let him in

. She was already waiting for him in the living room with Grace's carrier, and he could see the redness in her eyes.

"Hey, thanks for coming."

"Of course, let's go." He said, as he tried to help her put Grace in the carrier. The wailing started again, and Emily wanted to reach out and pick her baby up again.

"It's okay, babies get sick all the time." He said softly. "You can sit in the back with her if you want so you can sit by her carrier and touch her so she knows you're near her."

"Okay." Emily agreed, and they both rushed out of her apartment with the crying baby in the carrier.

When they arrived at the hospital, Aaron parked in the emergency ramp, letting the valet guy park his truck, and he went to help Emily with the carrier and diaper bag. While she carried Grace inside, the baby was still crying and that was a cause of concern for him.

The nurses admitted Grace almost immediately given that she was an infant and her fever was getting higher. Or maybe it was the intimidating look the unit chief gave them when they arrived. When the nice Doctor Graham arrived to check on Grace, Emily tried to explain as calmly as she could what had been going on with her baby all day. Grace was now in just a diaper crying for her mother…when the doctor attempted to touch her the baby started wailing loudly.

"I think you are hurting her." Emily said, without being able to control herself.

"Em, let them do their job, she's just a little fussy, she'll be okay." Aaron stopped Emily

from trying to take the baby from the doctor's hands. He could see the tears in her eyes, and he knew she was about to lose all sense of decorum. He placed his arm around her shoulders and made her look at him.

"Babies get sick all the time, Emily, it's okay."

"I should have brought her in earlier." She said, as a few tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Sweetheart, she's fine. I'm sure it's nothing, just please calm down." He pulled her into his arms for a hug holding her close while the doctor finished examining Grace.

Watching Grace cry while the doctor was examining her was agony for Emily. She wanted to pick her baby up and leave, and not let anyone near her baby girl, but she knew Grace needed to be checked. Being in Aaron's arms helped, it always did, there was something about the safety of his arms.

"It looks like it's just a small ear infection." Dr. Graham said.

"Why did she get it?" Emily asked, feeling a bunch of emotions running through her mind.

"Is not unusual for babies to get sick, especially during their first year of life." Dr. Graham said, reading Emily's mind." It's not anything you did wrong, she's just a newborn, her body has to get used to the outside world and bacteria." She smiled kindly at Emily.

"Is she in a lot of pain?"

"Mostly, it's just uncomfortable for her, that's partly why she is so fussy." She explained as she held Grace in her arms, handing her back to her impatient mother.

"I'll go ahead and give you some drops that will help alleviate the discomfort plus some antibiotics."

Emily nodded, cradling Grace against her chest.

"Thank you."

"I'll give her something for the fever and pain now; it should make her feel better very soon."

"She barely ate anything at all today." Emily explained, concerned.

"And that's normal, babies don't like to eat when they get sick." She smiled at Grace who was still sniffling in her mother's arms.

"Other than the ear infection, you have a pretty healthy baby girl, I wouldn't worry too much."

"Thank you, Doctor." 

"She should be fine in a few days, it usually only lasts for 2 or 3 days, just keep an eye on her, and if her fever goes higher, bring her back immediately…other than that, she should be okay."

"Okay, thank you, I really appreciate it."

"I'll have the nurses give her something, and we'll keep her for a little while just to make sure her fever doesn't go up again." Dr. Graham explained, looking at both Hotch and Emily. "If everything is fine, you'll be able to go home."

"Thank you for everything." Aaron said, shaking her hand since Emily was attempting to calm Grace down.

A little while later, Emily and Aaron were allowed to take Grace home. Grace was a little more relaxed now, and she had antibiotics prescribed to her. Emily was hoping that Grace could relax enough for her to eat and go to sleep.

When they arrived at Emily's apartment, Aaron helped Emily take Grace into the nursery, and even though the doctor had given her some ear drops and something for her fever, the newborn was still fussy and crying a little.

"Come on, Gracie, what is it, love?" Emily asked desperately after a while when she couldn't get her to relax enough.

"Here, let me try." Aaron offered, extending his arms and taking off his sweater. Emily didn't want to let go of her little girl, but she trusted Aaron enough to know he would never harm her.

"Where is your bathtub?" He asked, setting the baby down to undress her.

"My bathroom? You think it's okay to shower her with her ear like that?" she asked concerned.

"She is fine as long as we don't get any water near her ears." He said calmly as he lifted Grace who was now wearing just a diaper.

"Do you have cotton balls?"

"Yes, they're in my bathroom, too." Emily replied, and he followed after her. Emily filled the tub with warm water and watched as Aaron placed small cotton balls in the baby's ears to prevent her from getting her ears wet with the water.

Once the tub was filled, Emily moved out of the way and let Aaron walk in with Grace. At first, she thought the baby was going to start wailing uncontrollably again, but once she was in the warm water, she relaxed and allowed Aaron to bath her.

"There you go, love bug." Aaron said, talking to the baby and smiling, Grace was now gurgling and looking at him. Emily smiled, she had really never watched him interact with his daughter, but she liked the nickname he used for her.

She watched as he bathed Grace, holding her head in his arm so she didn't get her little ears wet, although his shirt was soaking now. However, Grace seemed to like the bath; she loved water, and it seemed to soothe her because she had stopped crying and was now staring at her father while he said all kinds of sweet things to her.

He wrapped the baby in a towel and headed back into the nursery with Emily following after him. Grace was no longer crying, and that was a good thing.

"How did you know?" Emily asked surprised, looking at him.

"Jack used to get a lot of ear infections…most people would tell you to never shower a baby with an ear infection, but they are mostly very uncomfortable and make their body sweaty; a warm bath is soothing and relaxing if you are careful to cover their ears." He smiled at her.

"You are so good with her." Emily said with a smile dancing across her lips as she watched him change Grace.

"I'm in love with her…she is just amazing."

After her bath, Grace ate a little and finally fell asleep in her mother's arms, exhausted. Emily was sure she would sleep most of the night since she had not taken a nap for over twelve hours.

"Thank you so much for coming, Aaron." She told him as they walked back toward the living room after putting Grace to sleep.

"You don't have to thank me, Emily, I've already told you she's my daughter. I'll do anything for her and for you."

"Thank you." She said again, biting her lip.

"Call me if anything else happens, please."

"Aaron, why don't you stay here." Emily said, looking at him.

"What?"

"It's past midnight and it's snowing again; we've been at the hospital all night." She told him, looking at him tiredly.

"I know you've probably been up since five a.m. because I know you, just stay here, you can sleep in my guest room. I don't want you driving this late in the snow."

Aaron looked at her for a second, not sure if she really meant what she was saying.

"Please, the roads are already bad outside, just stay."

"Okay, thank you, I'd like that, I can make sure you guys are fine all night." Emily just smiled back.

"I'm going to make some hot tea, do you want some before we go to bed?"

"Umm, sure, that would be nice."

She walked into the kitchen turning on the kettle and moving around to look for the tea bags. Aaron followed her, unsure what else to do. She stopped suddenly and turned to look at him. She looked away for a second like she was not sure what to say. He was going to ask her if she was fine when she spoke.

"Did you ever sleep with her?"

"I'm sorry, what?" He asked to make sure he heard right.

"Beth…did you sleep with her?" She asked again, crossing her arms in a defensive pose.

She needed to know, okay, she had read all his emails where he said he loved her more than anything, and how sorry he was for everything that had happened. He explained over and over how stupid he was for not believing in her and how he would do anything to earn her forgiveness, but never once had he mentioned the type of relationship he had with Beth and what exactly had happened between them. Emily needed to know, before she even considered forgiving him, she just needed to know.

"No, I never slept with her."

Emily gave him a look as if she didn't believe a word he was saying.

"I'm telling you the truth, we were never intimate. I was never able to get you off my mind." He said looking at her…Emily just shook her head.

"Emily, if we're going to have this conversation, I think we should sit down."

"Okay." She agreed, pouring hot water into the mugs and adding tea bags, then walking into the leaving room.

She first sat looking at him, she couldn't figure out what was going through her mind at that moment.

"Em, this is a topic that might hurt both of us if we open that box." He warned.

"I know, but I just need to know, I want to know." She said, as her eyes filled with tears.

"I never had sex with her, because I couldn't stop thinking about you." He said, looking at her honestly.

"But you did date her."

"Not quite." He said, looking down. "Emily, what happened with Beth was never even 'a thing', I wanted to make you jealous because I was hurting so badly." He confessed.

Emily just nodded, as tears began to roll down her cheeks. He took her hand and squeezed it, making her look at him.

"When I first believed you had cheated on me, I was devastated, and I wanted to make you jealous." He explained. "So, I kissed her that day in the coffee shop because I'm an idiot, but I never felt attracted to her, or I was never interested in her…I was just...hurt."

"What about after...she said you were living together."

"No, Em, we went out one day, and that was all. I was never able to get you off my mind." He took her hands, "Even when I believed you had cheated, and I tried to get over you I couldn't…we kissed, but that's all, I swear."

Emily looked away for a minute as tears spilled from her eyes. Aaron kneeled in front of her, taking her hands again.

"I love you, Emily, I have loved you for longer than I can remember, even when I believed you had cheated on me, I still loved you. I would never be able to love anyone else the way I love you."

"I'm trying really hard to forgive you, I love you, too, Aaron, and I want to forget that all of this ever happened and just be okay again...I just need you to give me time." She cried, looking at him.

"I would wait for you for the rest of my life if necessary. I don't care what I have to do, I just want you and Grace in my life again."

"You know when I see you doing all these things for Grace and spending time with her, I see the man that stole my heart three years ago." She sniffled. "I want to believe you're still that man."

"I am that man, Em, I will do whatever it takes to show you that." He vowed.

He stood up and pulled her into his arms, holding her close to him, he didn't want to let go of her.

"Why did all of this have to happen to us?" she cried

"I don't know, but together we'll get through it." He smiled, placing a soft kiss on Emily's lips. He saw her tired eyes, and he knew she must be exhausted as well.

"Let's get you to bed, sweetheart, it's late."

"Thank you, Aaron, for everything you're doing."

"I'll always be here."

Together, they made their way upstairs…they were both tired, and there was still so much to solve between them.

"Good night, Aaron." She said from her doorframe, as she stood there looking at him.

"Good night, love." He placed a last kiss on her forehead and walked into the guest room thankful for another chance to get closer to her.


	23. Chapter 23

Framed

Chapter 23: There is No Place Like Home

Before she knew it, Emily was back at work from maternity leave. Leaving Grace at home while she was away was one of the hardest things she ever had to do in her life. Of course, her mother was getting ready to retire and was going to stay home with her daughter each day. The problem was that since the ambassador was in her last month of service, she was asked to go to London to close some properties and tie up other loose ends. Emily refused to leave Grace with anyone else who was not her mother since she was going to be away on cases that were out of state a lot. She had considered asking Aaron for additional time away from work until her mother returned, but she knew he had been short an agent for almost four months now, and she needed to go back to work. It was Aaron's suggestion that Grace stay with his father and his mother. By now, of course, his parents knew Aaron had another child, and it was Emily's. Since they had already been engaged in the past, his parents loved Emily, and they were happy to help. It was a good plan for now until the ambassador returned from London. Emily knew his parents were good people, and Grace would be in good hands.

Her first case away from Grace was extremely difficult; she wanted to call Aaron's mother almost every hour to check on her baby girl. Aaron found that adorable, he loved the smile on her face when she was cradling Grace, and she was just such an amazing mother. They were lucky his parents were willing to watch their little girl while they were at work. The second week back at work was filled with paperwork, since the case they had just finished involved several homicides, and they also had meetings with the team and Hotch, so Monday was so chaotic that by ten in the morning, Emily already had a migraine. The team started gathering in the conference room, but Hotch was already there going through some files. Emily walked in holding her freshly made cup of coffee, followed by Reid who was drinking a cup of tea.

They sat at the round table, and Hotch started the meeting talking about their last case, and how great they had done. Soon, they moved into newer strategies, and the changes the BAU was about to face. Before they knew it, they had been there for at least an hour- and-a-half. Emily's phone started ringing on her hip…she had forgotten to silence it before she walked in. She quickly reached to press the silence button and turned to look at her boss, a little embarrassed.

"Sorry, Hotch." She apologized.

"It's okay." He nodded and went back to the file to talk about the next point, when Emily's phone started ringing again. She grabbed the phone and was about to turn it off when she saw the caller ID…it was from London…she knew her mother wouldn't call if it wasn't important.

"Mmm, I'm sorry, I have to take this." She turned to look at her boss, and he nodded. She stood up walking away from the conference room.

"Why don't we all take a ten-minute break." He told the rest of the team. 

Emily stepped into the hallway to answer her phone wondering what had made her mother call when she knew Emily was busy.

"Hello."

"Emily, it's Philip, sorry to call you at work." Philip was the ambassador's assistant when she traveled.

"It's okay, is everything okay there?" She asked, sensing something was not right.

"Emily, your mother was rushed to the hospital this morning." Philip said…Emily's mouth dropped open.

"What?" Oh my God, why?" 

"They think it was a heart attack, we don't know much yet, but they need a family member here."

"Oh God!" She covered her mouth. "Okay, I'll be there as soon as I can." Her voice was broken, and she was afraid if she spoke again, words wouldn't come out. This could not be happening right now. She walked back toward the conference room unable to keep her hands from shaking. When she stepped in the room, only Hotch, Dave were back from their short break. Hotch looked up to see Emily, and given the look on her face, he knew something was very wrong.

"What's going on?" He asked, when she stood there unable to speak.

"My mother...she...umm, they think she…" She choked on her words, and Hotch stood up approaching her immediately. "They think she suffered a heart attack." She finally finished, her eyes spilling a few tears.

"Do you want me to take you the airport?" He asked immediately. "What do you need?"

"Yes...umm...no, I need to go get Grace..." She said, in a cracked voice. "I need a few days, too…I know I have taken so much time already…I just…I need to go." She started speaking very fast.

"Emily, look at me." He commanded, putting his arm around her shoulders to snap her out of the shock she was in. Her eyes looked up.

"It's okay, let me take you to the airport?" He offered.

"I need to go get Grace."

"Em, why don't you leave Grace with me, sweetheart?" He asked, without caring who heard the use of the endearment.

"Um, I don't know…I..." She could hardly speak.

"Come here." He said, grabbing her arm and guiding her out of the conference room and into his office. When they walked in, she almost broke down in front of him.

"I have to go, Aaron, if something happens to her..." Tears started running freely down her cheeks.

"Nothing is going to happen to her." He said calmly. "I'll take you home to get clothes and then to the airport." He said softly.

"And Gracie?" Her watery eyes looked at him with concern.

"I'll take care of her while you're gone; I'll take a few days off if I have to." He said calmly.

"Aaron, I don't want to put you out."

"She's my daughter, too, and you're going to be at a hospital we don't know how long," He reasoned, "Leave Grace here, go take care of your mom, and I'll take care of everything else."

"Thank you." Emily said, realizing he was right. She could not take Grace with her to London if she was going to be running around a hospital for several days.

"Let's go." He told her. He walked into the conference room and waved at Dave asking him to come out.

"Can you finish the meeting for me?" He asked, when the older man stepped outside.

"Of course, call me if you guys need anything." Dave then gave Emily a gentle hug and said, "Be careful, Bella, please call us, as soon as you know what's going on."

"I will, thank you, Dave."

Aaron took Emily home to get a suitcase, her passport and documents to travel; while she was packing everything, he called the airlines and bought her a first-class plane ticket to London. He then took her to the airport and waited with her until her plane was ready to board.

"If anything happens...I won't be able..." She wasn't able to finish her words that were stuck in her throat as she stood there next to him by the gate ready to board.

"I'm sure everything is okay, sweetie." He told her, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear gently. "Call me as soon as you land, please."

"I will, please take care of Grace." She implored.

"Sweetheart, don't worry about Grace." He told her, pulling her in for a hug and holding her close. "Go be with your mom, Grace will be okay." He assured.

"Thank you for everything." She said again, her eyes red and swollen; she pressed a kiss to his lips before she walked down the ramp to her plane.

The situation with the ambassador was not as bad as it seemed; her heart attack was minor, and it didn't leave any major damage to her health. Emily was so relieved when she discovered her mother's health wasn't as serious as she had first thought. The entire plane ride she had been devastated and could hardly keep her tears at bay. Since she was a child, her relationship with her mother had been tricky, but she loved her mother dearly. For the past year, they had become closer than ever, and she had realized she loved her mother more than she knew, it would kill her if something happened to her. Thankfully, her mother had always been a rock, and the day after the heart attack, she was talking and ready to get out of bed. She was, however, kept at the hospital for a week just so they could monitor her, and Emily stayed with her the entire time. It was a great time for them both. Emily called Aaron every single second she had a chance because she missed her baby girl so much, and as glad as she was to be with her mother, she just wanted to be back with her daughter and to have her mother back home, too.

Her conversations with Aaron over the phone lasted for a long time; they talked about a lot of different things. Emily knew he was trying so hard to keep her mind away from the hospital and everything that was going on there. He also Skyped with her a few times and he sent pictures of Grace almost every hour, even some with Jack getting to know his little sister. She smiled every time she got his messages and she talked to him; over the course of the past few weeks, they have gotten so close. He had been amazing to her and Grace, and she was so grateful for him. Once the ambassador was allowed to go home, Emily made arrangements for them to fly home on a private jet. She wanted her mother to be as comfortable as she could, and she also wanted her mother to stay with her for a few weeks until she was fully healed and back on he feet. However, the ambassador blatantly refused, she wanted to stay in her own house with the convenience of her domestic help with everything she needed right there.

Aaron picked up Emily and the ambassador at the airport and made sure Elizabeth Prentiss was back home and resting before they went home. They also stayed with her for a little while so she could see Grace and Jack, since he also had Jack for the weekend. After that, Emily and Aaron headed back to her place with the children…she was so tired and all she wanted to do was go to bed and cuddle with her baby, maybe even with Aaron. When they arrived at her apartment, there was a little surprise waiting for Emily.

Jack raced into the apartment with a huge smile on his face, while Emily held Grace's carrier and Aaron carried Emily's luggage.

"We made a surprise for you, Emmy!" Jack shouted happily; Jack and Emily had always gotten along so great before Beth managed to break them up. Emily was in love with the little boy.

"Oh yeah? What's the surprise?" She asked smiling, placing the carrier on the couch and taking Grace in her arms.

"You have to come here!" Jack yelled and rushed to the hall. Emily smiled, turning to look at Aaron who just nodded with a big smile on his face. She followed Jack who led her into her study. She walked inside and her mouth dropped opened. Aaron had finished decorating and furnishing the study for her. Since Emily moved into her mother's condo, she had been trying to finish some projects, one of them being her office. But, she was pregnant with Grace, and there was so much going on, she hardly had time for anything, so her study was a white room with an old desk and bookcase and a bunch of boxes with all her books. She had been talking to Aaron over the phone while she was in London about all the little projects she needed to find time to finish but she never had time to, one of them her study, for example.

She stood there looking at the now light green colored room, with a new desk and bookcase, all of which contained her collection of books. The wall had several pictures some of which Emily had in the boxes along with some new ones of Grace and Jack. Her dark cherry desk was larger than the one she previously had, and there were several decorations around the desk that coordinated with the colors of the office. A large portrait was in the middle of her desk; it was a picture of Jack with a big toothy smile holding Grace. A huge smile appeared on her face, and she turned to look at Aaron who was smiling at her.

"You did all of this?" She asked, speechless.

"Jack and Grace helped." He responded, smiling at her.

"We have something else?" Jack said excitedly, pulling on her hand and rushing her out of the room.

She followed him into the nursery, her mouth dropping open for the second time. Aaron had finished arranging the nursery for her; she and the ambassador had done a pretty good job, but there were still some boxes lying around from the baby shower and gifts that she never had time to put away. Everything was perfect in there; he had added a few decorations to the room matching the same colors Emily had, plus a huge teddy bear almost as big as Jack, or bigger, was sitting on the carpet with a huge shiny purple ribbon.

"Daddy organized all of Gracie's clothes, and we put all the colors together." Jack said happily.

Emily opened the small closet in her daughter's room, and she saw that Grace's clothes were now organized by color and sizes. She turned to look at him again that night without knowing what to say.

"I know how you are about order and having everything organized." He said, shrugging.

"Plus, you've been so busy, I figured this would take some weight off your shoulders."

"Thank you so much." She responded, crouching down onto the floor to hug Jack with her free arm.

"Do you like it, Emmy?"

"I love it, Jack, thank you so much for my surprise." She said, as she felt her eyes fill with tears again.

She then stood up and walked toward Aaron pulling him down for a hug and pressing a kiss to his lips, too.

"Thank you for everything, Aaron"

"You're very welcome, sweetheart."

That night, Emily told Aaron to spend the night there, too. She had a spare room for him and Jack, and she truly didn't want them to leave. After they put the kids to bed, Emily went to take a shower and get ready for bed, while he finished putting everything away they had used for dinner in the kitchen. When she came down, he was finished doing the dishes, and he turned to look at her with a smile.

"Do you want me to put on some hot tea? I know it relaxes you at night."

"I'm okay." She said, coming closer to him. "Aaron, thank you so much for everything you did this week, everything you have done the past few weeks; I don't know what I would have done without you." She said, looking at him deeply.

"I just want to see you happy." He said, coming closer to her and taking her hands.

"I'm happier than I've been in a long time." She closed the distance between them as she felt his arms wrap around her.

"I love you, and I would do anything to make you happy."

"I love you, too, Aaron, I truly do." She leaned forward kissing him; the kiss was deep and passionate, full of meaning, and when they separated, she leaned against his forehead.

"Spend the night with me in my bed." She whispered softly.

"Are you sure, Em?" He asked dubiously.

"Yes, I want to hold you tonight...I just want to sleep in your arms."

"Okay" He nodded, turning of all the lights and leading her into the master bedroom.

As soon as the door was closed and locked, her lips were back on his kissing him passionately. Aaron wrapped his arms around her, as they fell back on the bed. Soon, they were making out, and her hand slipped beneath his shirt. Aaron felt like it was time to slow things down, so he pulled away some.

"Sweetheart...are you sure?" He asked…he didn't want to rush her into something she was not ready for.

"I am…I know sex is not going to solve all of our problems, and we still have a lot to work on, but...right now, I don't want to think anymore...I just want to be with you...I want to feel you again...I want to sleep all night in your arms and forget everything that has happened." She whispered. Aaron looked at her, smiling and kissing her lips tenderly. He wanted to be with her…God, he did, he just wanted to make sure she was ready to do this.

"Make love with me, Aaron." She whispered, as if she was reading his mind.

"I love you." He said, kissing her as his hands began to move under her camisole.

"I love you, too." She whispered back


	24. Chapter 24

Framed

Chapter 24: Future Perfect

That night, Emily told Aaron to spend the night there, too. She had a spare room for him and Jack, and she truly didn't want them to leave. After they put the kids to bed, Emily went to take a shower and get ready for bed, while he finished putting everything away in the kitchen they had used for dinner. When she came down, he was finished doing the dishes, and he turned to look at her with a smile.

"Do you want me to put on some hot tea? I know it relaxes you at night."

"I'm okay." She said, coming closer to him. "Aaron, thank you so much for everything you did this week, everything you have done the past few weeks; I don't know what I would have done without you." She said, looking at him deeply.

"I just want to see you happy." He said, coming closer to her and taking her hands.

"I'm happier than I've been in a long time." She closed the distance between them as she felt his arms wrap around her.

"I love you, and I would do anything to make you happy."

"I love you, too, Aaron, I truly do." She leaned forward kissing him; the kiss was deep and passionate, full of meaning, and when they separated, she leaned her head against his forehead.

"Spend the night with me in my bed." She whispered softly.

"Are you sure, Em?" He asked dubiously.

"Yes, I want to hold you tonight...I just want to sleep in your arms."

"Okay" He nodded, turning of all the lights and leading her into the master bedroom.

As soon as the door was closed and locked, her lips were back on his kissing him passionately. Aaron wrapped his arms around her, as they fell back on the bed. Soon, they were making out, and her hand slipped beneath his shirt. Aaron felt like it was time to slow things down, so he pulled away some.

"Sweetheart...are you sure?" He asked…he didn't want to rush her into something she wasn't ready for.

"I am…I know sex is not going to solve all of our problems, and we still have a lot to work on, but...right now, I don't want to think anymore, I just want to be with you...I want to feel you again...I want to sleep all night in your arms and forget everything that has happened." She whispered. Aaron looked at her, smiling and kissing her lips tenderly. He wanted to be with her…God, he did, he just wanted to make sure she was ready to do this.

"Make love with me, Aaron." She whispered, as if she was reading his mind.

"I love you." He said again, kissing her as his hands began to move under her camisole.

"I love you, too." She whispered back.

He leaned down capturing her lips in a passionate kiss, and as much as he wanted to stop himself and take things slower and maybe take more time to talk and work things out before they actually had sex, he just couldn't stop himself…the effect Emily had on him was lethal. From the moment he had seen Emily, well, not the very first moment, but soon after she started working for him, he realized he was crazy about her. After his divorce from Haley, he never expected to fall in love again; in fact, he knew his romantic life was over.

But then the brunette came into his life and everything changed. She was this new agent who was eager to start profiling and solving cases. Hotch was not sure she had what it took to be a profiler since profiling was a specialty and not everyone that wanted to give it a whirl was meant to be a profiler. But soon, she proved him wrong; she was one of the best profilers he had ever worked with, even better than Rossi. She was amazing with children, and her linguistic skills were invaluable. Emily spoke and understood five different languages, and that was a huge help during certain cases. With all the experience she had with CIA and Interpol, it made cases so much easier to solve. She quickly became an integral part of the family. Hotch had seen profilers come and go, and the team stayed the same, but the team actually loved her, and she fit in seamlessly. JJ and Garcia quickly became friends with her, and they all started having girl's nights out. Reid and Morgan became brother figures…Reid often came to her for advice and help, and Morgan loved to tease her to no end, and Rossi treated her like a daughter, he was always watching after her. But, Hotch had to admit the team had never worked so smoothly since she had joined the team, and they all became a big family, closer than they had ever been before.

Then, it became him and her; as much as he had treated her so indifferently when she first joined the team, Emily was the only one there when he had needed someone the most, and soon they became close friends. Hotch realized that he had pushed her away because he was so attracted to her, and he couldn't stop himself. How could he not, she was beautiful and smart, feisty and compassionate at the same time. Before he could stop himself, he kissed her after a gala for the BAU; he was driving her home, and he just couldn't stop himself. After that, it didn't take too long for it to become a relationship, and regardless of the fraternization rules, he was in love with her. He could never imagine that one day he would be proposing to the brunette in front of his friends, and when she said yes, his heart filled with joy and happiness. She was the woman who owned his heart, and he had never loved anyone the way he loved Emily. When Beth managed to separate them by making him think Emily had cheated, he was devastated. He thought he would never be able to recover, and thankfully that was over. Now, he was here in the same room with her kissing her, making out on her bed, and as much as he wanted to take things slowly, he simply could not stop himself.

His lips started trailing kisses on her neck and collarbone, making her whimper softly, the woman had always been so exquisite. She always made him lose his mind, he was addicted to her body and to her, the things she could make him feel he would never be able to describe in words.

"Aaron," Emily cried softly, as his hand softly covered her breast, and his mouth assaulted her neck hungrily.

"Oh, sweetheart," He whispered in her ear as his hand moved under her shorts. He could barely control his own desire at that moment…he was already so hard.

She removed his shirt and her lips were back on his in a matter of seconds; their lovemaking had always been passionate, but at that moment they were burning. He removed her camisole gently admiring her glorious figure, then his mouth captured one of her nipples making Emily arch into him.

She was trying to be as quiet as she could given they had a five-year-old and a four-month-old baby in the rooms next to them. But the way he was touching her made it almost impossible for her not to scream. She bit her lip to keep herself from losing control of her emotions as his hand got comfortable between her legs. His finger dipped inside her wet core as she bit his shoulder to contain her loud moan, her hands expertly unclasped his zipper, and they both worked together on sliding his jeans and boxers off at the same time.

Aaron's mouth moved from her breast to her navel and down to her pelvis, as he carefully slid her shorts and panties off at the same time. They had not been together in a long time, and he was dying to be with her; he was sure he was going to explode if he didn't take her now. Emily whimpered as his fingers started toying with her core, her own hands moved to his shaft, and she started to stroke him softly.

"God, baby." He whispered, splashing hot kisses on her neck.

"Aaron, I want you, please..." She begged.

He smiled as he positioned himself at her entrance; they both moaned softly when he slid inside her. That night, he made passionate love to her…a few times, in fact. She fell asleep in his arms, their sweaty bodies pressed against each other.

Emily woke up the next morning before he did and slowly slid out of bed to use the bathroom being careful not to wake him. When she returned from the restroom she had her silk robe wrapped around her, so she sat down on the edge of the bed looking at him. He looked so peaceful when he slept, he always had; perhaps, it was the only time she saw him this relaxed, all the rest of the time, he was always in his full unit chief mode.

They had finally made love last night, and it had been amazing. She smiled at the man on her bed. For the past month, he had been so amazing to her and to her daughter, _his daughter._ After the whole fiasco with Beth had gone down, she had worried for her entire pregnancy how she would face the fact that she would have to be a single mother. How could she explain to her daughter that her father wasn't a part of her life, but here he was, going with her to take Grace to the hospital in the middle of the night, and him arranging her baby girl's closet. He was the man she had truly loved her entire life, the man she had fallen in love with a few years back. Often people only got to see the stoic Aaron Hotchner, but she had been blessed to have seen another part of him their entire relationship. A sweet and loving man, who made her laugh and who loved to spend time with her cuddled on the couch watching a good movie and drinking wine. She thought she had lost that man, but here he was doing anything he could to help her and to be there for Gracie and her when she needed him the most. She smiled again, and she slowly walked out of the room to go to the nursery.

Gracie was awake when she walked in, but she was being entertained with a little soft pink blanket and the teddy bear Aaron had bought her.

"Good morning, sweetness." She said, softly picking up Grace and cradling her against her chest. She had missed her baby girl so much while she was in London; thankfully, her mother was fine now, and she was back home with her sweet angel and the people she loved the most.

"Hi, Emmy," A soft voice came from the door…she turned around to see Jack in Spiderman pajamas looking at her with a sleepy face.

"Hey, buddy." She smiled at him, "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah, may I hold her, Emmy?" He asked, with a big, toothy smile.

"Of course, you can, come here." She said, helping Jack sit in the rocking chair and then placing Grace gently in his arms. The baby gurgled when Jack started speaking to her, Emily was crouching on the floor next to them with a wide smile. Jack would definitely be a great brother with Grace; she could already see that, he was just like his father; she loved the little boy like he was her own.

"Emmy, can we take her to the zoo?" He asked hopefully.

"You know, I think she might be too little to appreciate the zoo, Jack, but we can go the park with her in her stroller." Emily suggested, with a smile on her face as she saw the little boy pout at her.

"Can I take my bike?"

"We can ask your daddy, okay?"

"Okay, and can we make pancakes?" He looked at Emily with his hazelnut eyes that always made her melt.

"Sure, we can, why don't we go downstairs so we don't wake up daddy, and you can help me cook?"

"Yay!" He said happily, and Emily carefully took Grace from the little boy's arms, and they headed down to the kitchen. After making a bottle for Grace, she placed the baby in her Rock and Play sleeper setting it on the top of the island. Jack sat on one of the big stools helping hold Grace's bottle while Emily got the ingredients ready for the pancakes.

"What is this? A party without me?" Aaron asked, smiling and walking into the kitchen.

"Daddy, I'm helping feed Grace, and we're going to make pancakes!" The little boy shouted happily making both Aaron and Emily laugh.

"I see that, buddy." He came into the kitchen ruffling the little boy's hair and placing a kiss on his forehead. Then he leaned down and placed a kiss on his daughter's cheek.

"Good morning, love bug." He said sweetly, the infant stopped drinking from her bottle and a little smile slowly came on her innocent face. Emily was sure she recognized him so well and knew who he was…she was always so calm when she was around him.

His attention then went to the brunette who was by the cabinets gathering ingredients.

"Hey, sweetheart." He said, wrapping her in his arms and placing a kiss on her lips.

"Sorry, we didn't want to wake you up."

"I was already up, let me do the pancakes so you can go get ready." He told her holding her close.

" _We_ were going to make breakfast for you." She pointed, leaned into his touch and returned the kiss tenderly.

"It's okay, sweetie, I like cooking for you guys." He smiled at her and pressed his forehead against hers; they didn't care that the kids were still there…they loved each other, and they had been through so much they just wanted to rebuild their love again.

"I'll make you coffee the way you like it, go take a shower, and I can handle the kids and breakfast."

"Thank you." She responded, "Jack wants to go to the park, though, and he wants to take his bike. I figured we could do something _together,_ you know."

"Whatever you want, baby." He caressed her cheek and started mixing the ingredients for the pancakes.

Emily went upstairs to take a shower; they still had so much to talk about and things to work on, but everything was over finally, and they could start working on repairing their relationship and the broken parts. She loved Aaron more than anything, she knew she did, but it would take a while before they got to that place again. But she was happy, he made her happy, he always had.


End file.
